Live While We're Young
I woke up the next morning in a dour mood. Bella and I had to share a bed, and she had kept me up late because she'd wanted to get ahead on her homework. I usually didn't have a problem falling asleep with the light on, but for some reason, I couldn't make myself drift off.
I woke up late, as a result, and didn't have time for a shower or breakfast. I threw my clothes on and brushed my teeth quickly, and then ran outside to get in the truck. Bella was waiting for me, and she glared at me as I jumped in.
"You're going to make us late for class," she said, looking at her watch.
"I'm sorry," I growled, fastening my seatbelt as she eased out onto the street. "If you would have woken me when you got up, I wouldn't have slept in so late."
"I tried to wake you up," she argued, not taking her eyes off the road. "And you just told me to leave you alone. So I did."
"I was tired," I yawned widely. "If you hadn't been up all night studying, I wouldn't be so tired today."
Bella sighed heavily, but didn't reply. I crossed my arms over my chest and turned to stare out the window. I was usually in a good mood, but when I was tired, I was a complete crank.
We arrived at school with just enough time for me to dash across the yard and slip through the classroom door just seconds before the bell rang. Mr. Walsh gave me a pointed look.
"Cutting it a bit close this morning, aren't we?" he stated as I made my way to my seat.
"Yes sir," I replied, sitting down heavily. "I'm sorry."
He nodded and started the lesson. I quickly pulled out my books and began to take notes.
"You barely made it in time!" Luke said as we walked out of the building after class. I looked at the sky, which was still spitting water at me. I pulled up my hood.
"Yeah, I know," I replied. "I woke up late this morning; Bella was up all night working on homework."
"Yeah, I always leave mine until the last minute, too."
"Oh, no," I explained. "Bella just doesn't have a life, so she likes to get ahead on all her work. She'll be starting her senior year's workload in a month or so."
"So, what do you two not get along?"
"No," I sighed, shaking my head. "We do; I'm just really cranky when I don't get enough beauty sleep."
"I think you get plenty of that," he laughed.
I snorted, and we hurried off to class together.
Since I hadn't had time to eat before we left the house, I was starving by the time gym class rolled around. My stomach growled loudly as I changed, and Monica and a couple of the other girls laughed until I shot them all a dirty look. I was pulling off my tee shirt when I saw Alice Cullen walking by me, fully dressed for class. How did she change so fast? I wondered as I pulled my uniform top over my head. I was one of the first into the change rooms.
I was pretty excited to get back on the court. My excitement was short-lived. I was placed on a court with a group of girls who didn't want to play, and two boys who were more than happy to leave them out of the game. Every time a ball came my way, the one that was on my team would jump in my way and hit it back over the net. I was getting extremely annoyed.
Finally, I decided that I needed to put my foot down and force myself into the game. The tall, dark-haired jock on the other side of the net smashed the ball, and without waiting for the brute on my team to run for it, I took two quick steps forwards and jumped up in front of the net to block it with my two hands. The ball hit my fingers and I flicked my wrists, sending it back to their side, where it landed in the center of the court. Both guys stared at me open mouthed, and I smiled sweetly at them.
"It's my serve, I think," I said, opening my hands for the ball.
One of the girls rolled it under the net to me, and I scooped it up. I moved back to the wall, far behind the serve line, and held the ball in one hand, weighing it. I bounced it three times in my hand, and then tossed it up in the air and smashed it over the net. The big jock dived to hit it, but missed.
"Good serve, Swan," Coach Clapp called from the bleachers. I smiled at the praise, and then set myself up for my second serve. It, and the third one, sailed over the net and bounce off the floor.
"Alright," Coach Clapp called loudly, blowing his whistle to get everyone's attention. "Time to switch it up a bit." He directed which teams where to go, and then sat back down. We moved down to the court that we were assigned to, and I noticed that we were playing against the team that Alice Cullen was on. I also noticed, for the first time, that Edward wasn't in class.
I waited at the back of the court and watched as Alice served the ball. It was headed directly for the guy on my team, but instead of bumping it like I expected him to, her jumped quickly out of the way and let it bounce on the floor. I glared at him as one of the girls rolled the ball back under the net. She served again, a nice, easy underhand serve, and again, he moved out of the way.
I was severely annoyed that he was just standing there. I assumed it was because he was trying to be nice to her and let her win; she was very beautiful, so maybe he was trying to get her attention. Even if that was the case, I wasn't going to just stand there and let our team lose, so when Alice served the ball and the brute moved out of the way, I dove forward and hit it back to her. She seemed surprised, but recovered quickly enough to spike the ball back.
For the next twenty minutes, Alice and I hit the ball back and forth, completely ignoring everyone else in the gym. Actually, for a short while, I forgot that they were there, or even where I was. All I was focused on was not letting the ball hit the floor. Even when the ball was clearly out of bounds, neither of us let it drop; we dove to keep it in play instead.
I was beginning to tire and my entire body was drenched in sweat, but my competitive nature refused to allow me to stop. I dove and jumped, ignoring my screaming muscles and the stinging in my hands and forearms. Finally, though, my knees buckled and I dropped to the ground, missing the ball by inches. My head fell forward and I closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath. When I opened them again, I saw a pair of small feet directly in front of me. I looked up and saw that Alice Cullen was standing there, smiling with her hand stuck out to help me up. I took it, and nearly pulled away from her; her hand was freezing cold. I didn't though, and she hauled me to my feet; I was surprised at how strong she seemed to be.
"That was a good game," she said in a musical voice. "I've never played that long with anyone before; you're really good."
"I'm good!" I gasped, holding a stitch in my side. "That was insane; I've never seen anything like that before. You're not even sweating!"
"I've been playing for a long time," she said, waving away my praise. The bell rang to signal the end of class, and we began making our way back to the changing rooms. "You're Elizabeth Swan, right?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "It's just Libby, though. I don't know what Mom was thinking giving me such an old-fashioned name like 'Elizabeth'. It's horrible."
Alice laughed, and I couldn't get over how pretty it sounded, almost like bells. I smiled back at her and quickly pulled off my tee. It was drenched with sweat, and stuck to me as I peeled if off my damp skin. My shorts were similar, and my skin was so sticky that it took me a moment to pull my jeans and sweater back on. By the time that my head popped through its hole in my shirt, most of the class had already left. The only other one in the dressing room was Alice. She sat patiently on the bench beside me, watching as I swiped deodorant under my arms and gave myself a couple sprays of body spray.
"There," I said, stowing them back in my bag. "I hope that makes me smell a little bit better."
Alice grinned. "You smell great."
I shook my head, grinning, and picked up my bag. Alice followed me out of the change room.
"So, how do you like it here in Forks?" she asked as we made our way to the cafeteria.
"It's okay," I said slowly. "I can't lie, I used to hate it here when I was young, but I've decided to try it again, and this time, I kind of love it. I've only been here for two days, though; ask me next week, and my answer might be different."
She laughed again. "It must be very different from Phoenix."
"You have no idea," I said. "It's so cold and wet here. Back home, I would be walking around in shorts and a tank top right now. Instead, I'm in a pair of jeans, which are still too thin, and a sweater and a jacket." I pulled my jacket more tightly around me and shivered.
"Well, it is still early in the year," Alice reminded me. "Wait until the summer comes before you start to make your judgements."
I nodded in agreement. The smell of lasagna, the day's lunch, wafted across the lawn from the cafeteria as someone opened the door and slipped inside, and my stomach growled loudly. I looked down at it, and Alice squealed with laughter.
"Hungry, are you?" she asked, still giggling.
"Starved," I admitted. "I didn't have time to eat this morning."
I pulled the door open and stood back for Alice to go through first. She thanked me, and started to walk towards a table in the corner.
"I'll see you later, Alice," I called to her. She turned around, without stopping walking, and waved to me. I hurried to get in line to get my lunch.
Bella and the girls that she had been sitting with the day before were now crowded around a table with Eric and Luke and the rest of the people that I had sat with the day before. I didn't think that there would be room for me to sit, but when he saw me walking towards them, Luke shoved over, just far enough for me to squeeze in between him and my sister.
I listened in as Mike, a cute baby-faced boy with spiky blonde hair, spoke very animatedly about a trip to the beach that the group was planning. Bella was sitting quietly beside me, pretending to be listening to what was being said, but she was sitting very tensely and every now and then, she would raise her head a fraction of an inch and look to the far corner. I followed her gaze and saw that she was watching the table that Alice had gone to sit at. There were three other people who I did not know.
"Who are they?" I asked Luke. I nodded towards the table that Bella was looking at.
He looked into the corner and frowned. "That's the Cullens," he replied. "You know Alice, of course, and that's her brother, Emmett. The blondes are Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They all live with Dr. Cullen and his wife, just outside of town somewhere."
"Oh, okay." I nodded. "We haven't met Dr. Cullen yet, but I'm sure that we'll be seeing him sometime in the near future, won't we Bella?"
My sister turned bright red and glared at me. I smiled sweetly back at her.
"So, beach," Mike said, turning the attention back to him. "Are you guys interested?" He was watching Bella, but she looked like she wasn't paying attention, so I answered.
"Yeah, for sure. We're in." I loved the beach; it was one of the things that I really loved here in Washington. Being in the middle of the desert, there weren't any beaches, so I didn't often get to go swimming. The only time I got to see the ocean was when Bella and I vacationed in California with our dad every summer.
"I don't know," Bella said softly. "Isn't a little cold for the beach?"
"We'd love to go to the beach," I said firmly, raising an eyebrow at her. "Wouldn't we, Bella?"
She looked at me and I glared back at her until she nodded. "Yeah, it sounds like fun," she said.
"Cool."
The conversation changed and turned to gossip, so I turned my attention to my food. The lasagna was hot, and I scalded my throat when I swallowed, but I didn't slow down until all of my food was gone from my tray. Luke sniggered as he watched me pick up the crumbs from my garlic bread, but I ignored him; I was too hungry to care about good manners.
All too soon, the bell rang, and I had to head to class. I dumped what was left on my tray into the trash and hurriedly left the cafeteria.
At the end of the day, I met Bella by the truck. She was walking slowly, as she usually did, and I had been waiting for her for nearly ten minutes.
She walked slowly across the parking lot, watching carefully for moving vehicles, and slid into the truck. She pulled her hood down and sighed before putting the key in the ignition and turning it. The explosive roar that came from the truck was embarrassing, and I covered my face with my hand, smiling. Bella's face flushed bright red as people turned to look at us, but she didn't say a word as she backed out of her parking space and pulled into the line of cars waiting to exit the school's lot. She gazed out the window as we waited, staring at a shiny silver Volvo. The Cullens were standing around it. Alice turned and waved when she saw me looking, and I waved back, smiling at her. The tall blonde girl, Rosalie, shot a glare at us before climbing into the car's passenger seat. Bella's face reddened even more, and she turned back to facing forward, refusing to look at them as we passed. She seemed extremely relieved when we were finally free of the school.
Bella dropped me off at home, and then left again. She was going to do the grocery shopping, something that I loathed. I took the key out of the eaves and unlocked the door.
It was quiet inside, as I was the only one at home. It was nice; I could turn on some music and do my own thing for a little while without being disturbed. I plugged my iPod into the radio/dock that I had installed in the kitchen, and settled down to do some homework.
It was dark outside, and the rain lashed against the windows, but inside the kitchen, it was warm and bright. The music was turned loudly, and I was dancing wildly around the room, my homework forgotten on the table.
"Let's go crazy, crazy, crazy 'til we see the sun," I sang loudly, and very off-key. I danced around, swinging my hair in a large circle. "I know we only met but let's pretend its love! And never, never, never stop for anyone! Tonight let's get some, and live while we're young!"
The song ended, and I heard clapping from the doorway. Bella was standing there, a grin spread over her face, cheering me on.
"How long have you been there?" I asked, going extremely red in the face.
"Long enough," she replied. "Now if you're done, can you come help me with the groceries?"
"Yeah, sure," I replied. I pulled on my sneakers and ran outside to help her, forgetting exactly how cold and wet it was. "Holy crap; it's freezing out here!"
"You should have put your jacket on," Bella admonished, handing me a bag from the back of the truck. It was soaking wet, and almost slipped out of my hand when she let go.
"You should have put them in the cab with you, Bells," I said, grabbing another one. "These are all wet now."
"I know," she replied. "I didn't even think about it until I was almost home."
It took us several trips to bring everything into the house, and when Bella shut the door behind her, I kicked off my shoes and dropped the last bag on the floor.
"I'm going to change," I said, pulling off my shirt as I spoke. "I'm soaking wet."
"Libby!" Bella cried. "Don't strip in the kitchen! What if Charlie came home?"
I rolled my eyes and hurried upstairs to continue changing. It was something that I had a hard time getting used to, having men around. For years, it had been just Mom, Bella and I, and I could walk around in my bra and underwear all I wanted. When Phil moved in, he often caught a glimpse of me wearing very little, but he didn't seem to mind, and Mom never said anything about it. Living with Dad was going to be completely different; I knew that he would be horribly embarrassed if he caught me in my underclothes.
I pulled a pair of thick flannel pyjama pants on, and a baggy University of Arizona hoodie over my tank top. I changed into a pair of thick fleece socks, and hurried back down the stairs.
Bella had finished putting the groceries away, and was now starting supper, steak and baked potatoes. I grabbed my books and moved to the living room; I was going to try to finish my homework before Dad got home. Bella went upstairs, and a moment later I heard her laugh. I dropped what I was doing and went to see what was so funny.
"Look at this," she said when I walked into the room. I looked over her shoulder and saw the e-mails from our mother.
Bella, Mom wrote. Write me as soon as you get in. Tell me how your flight was. Is it raining? I miss you and Libby already. Tell her to e-mail me. I'm almost finished packing for Florida, but I can't find my pink blouse. Do you know where I put it? Phil says hi, and to tell Libs that she owes him fifty dollars, I'm not sure what for.
Mom
I groaned as I finished reading. I owed him fifty bucks; that meant that Phil's best friend's girlfriend hadn't been cheating on him after all, and that her baby was his. I sighed, and Bella went to the next e-mail. I noticed that it had been sent eight hours after the first one.
Bella, she wrote. Why haven't you e-mailed me yet? What are you waiting for?
Mom
Bella went to the next one, from this morning, and I read:
Isabella,
If I haven't heard from either you or your sister by 5:30 today, then I am calling Charlie.
Bella checked the clock, groaned, and then began typing.
Mom, she wrote. Calm down. I'm writing now. Don't do anything rash.
Bella
She sent the e-mail, and then immediately began another one.
Mom,
Everything is great. Of course it's raining. I was waiting for something to write about. School isn't bad, just a little repetitive. I met some nice kids who sit by me at lunch. Libby is making lots of friends, too. Your blouse is at the dry cleaners – you were supposed to pick it up on Friday. Charlie bought us a truck, can you believe it? I love it. It's old, but really sturdy, which is good, you know, for me. I miss you, too, and so does Libby. I'll write again soon, but I'm not going to check my e-mail every five minutes. Relax, breathe. I love you.
Bella
She was about to hit send, but I stopped her.
"Tell her to tell Phil that I'll give him the money the next time I see him," I instructed her. She nodded and typed it, and then hit send.
"You know as well as I do that she'll be okay, Bella," I said, noticing her worried face. "She's got Phil to take care of her now; it's your turn to be the kid."
"I guess so," she said slowly.
I patted her shoulder and left the room.
Dad arrived home just as I was finishing my homework. I heard Bella thumping down the stairs. She and Dad talked for a couple of minutes in the kitchen, and then Dad sauntered into the living room.
"Hey, Kitty," he greeted me. "What are you doing?"
"Just finished my homework, Dad," I replied, ignoring his use of my childhood nickname. He'd started calling me that when I was just a baby, as any noise that I made sound more like a cat's meow than any form of human speech. "How was work?"
"Pretty much the same as always," he replied, flopping down onto the couch. He turned the game on, and I crawled up onto the couch from my spot on the floor to watch it with him. Half hour later, Bella came into the living room.
"Supper is ready," she said.
Charlie and I jumped up off the couch at the same time and raced to the kitchen. I hadn't realized until I smelled the steak broiling, but I was starving.
"Smells good, Bells," Dad commented we sat at the table.
We ate in silence for a couple of minutes; I was too concerned with filling my face, and neither Bella nor Dad was overly social people.
"How was school today?" Dad asked while he was filling his plate for the second time. "Are you girls making any friends?"
"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica," Bella said. "I sit with her friends at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice."
"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid – nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here." Dad nodded to himself and then turned to me. "How about you, Libs?"
"Yeah," I replied. "I agree with Bella; everyone's been really nice. We sit with the same group at lunch time, and they invited us to go to the beach with them."
Bella frowned for a moment, and then looked at Dad. "Do you know the Cullen family?" she asked hesitantly.
"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."
"They…the kids…are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school."
I don't think the either Bella or I were expecting our father's angry reaction.
"People in this town," he muttered darkly. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world and make ten times the salary he gets here." He continued, getting louder with every word he spoke, "We're lucky to have him – lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature – I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should – camping trips every other weekend…Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."
I sat with my mouth hanging open for a moment as Dad continued to eat. It was the longest speech that I had ever heard my father make; he must feel very strongly about whatever people were saying.
Bella quickly tried to fix what she had said. "They seemed nice enough to me. I just noticed that they kept to themselves."
"The little one is really nice," I put in. "Alice. We played volleyball together today, and then we walked to the cafeteria together. She's really friendly."
Dad nodded to me approvingly.
"They're all very attractive." Bella added it on as though it was an afterthought, and I smirked.
"You should see the doctor," Dad laughed, suddenly in a much better mood. "It's a good thing that he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around."
After supper Dad went back into the living room to watch more TV while Bella and I cleaned up after supper, and then Bella went upstairs to work on her homework. I picked up a book that I was reading and went into the living room, and settled into the chair to read for the rest of the evening.
The rest of the week went by without incident, and both Bella and I were settling in nicely to our school schedules. As I continued to get to know our group of lunch mates, I was quickly deciding which ones I liked and which ones I didn't. One of the girls, Lauren Mallory, was one of the rudest people I had ever met, and that included all of the rich kids that I went to school with in Phoenix. Jessica Stanley, who was starting to be pretty good friends with my sister, was fake, and I hated that. I didn't believe a word she said. Angela Weber, who turned out to be Luke's cousin, was possibly the sweetest person I had ever met, and it was impossible to not like her. Most of the guys were pretty fun, and I'd always got along better with boys better than girls, anyway. The only problem I had with any of the guys at all was that Tyler didn't seem to understand that I wasn't interested, and was continually asking me out. It annoyed me a lot, but he was funny at the same time, so I didn't quite know what to do with him. I would have to ask Brigit the next time I spoke to her; she was used to these kinds of problems.
Alice Cullen was something different completely. All week, she and I continued to talk at school, and I was really starting to like her, but I didn't really know her. She was extremely secretive, barely telling me anything about herself or her family. Anytime that I questioned her about them, she gave me a vague answer, and then she changed the subject. I wasn't sure what to think.
The weekend came, and without the distraction of school, I felt like I was going insane. Back home I'd had a job and some friends that I would hang out with at the mall or the park, or something. Here, I had no job, there was no mall anywhere near, and it was too cold and wet to spend too much time outside. Dad, who wasn't used to spending much time at home, worked all weekend, and Bella did nothing but clean the house and do homework. She spoke to me a bit, but I could tell that she was preoccupied with something. We did take a drive around town on Saturday, stopping at the library so Bella could get a card, which she didn't.
We returned home, Bella complaining about how poorly stocked the library was, and I changed into my pyjamas. It was raining, of course, and I had decided that it was the perfect day to catch up on some reading. It was a murder mystery sort of story about a young woman who moved to a remote town. The similarities between her and I were a little unnerving, but it was a good story, so I read it anyway.
I curled up on the bed I shared with my sister and let the book fall open to where I had marked it, and got lost in the story.
"Hey."
My head shot up and I let out a little scream. I had just gotten to a part of the book where the girl was being stalked, and she was sure that there was someone in the house with her. Bella gave me a funny look. She was standing in the door way, watching me.
"What?" I asked a bit too sharply.
"Are you okay?" she asked, sounding concerned.
"Yes," I replied. "I'm just reading a book." I held it up so she could see.
Bella scoffed at me. "Why do you read those books if they scare you so much? You know you're not going to be able to sleep tonight, now."
"I know," I replied. "But they're just so good."
"I've been calling you down for supper for almost ten minutes," she replied, shaking her head. "Come and eat before it gets cold."
"Alright." I put the book down on the bedside table and hurried out of the room behind my sister. There was no way that I was going to be walking around the house by myself.
Monday at school was basically the same as all the previous week. I went to class, sat with the same group at lunch, and was quickly becoming close to several people, Alice included. We talked more and more in gym class, which seemed to baffle most people. It seemed as though most of them had never had a conversation with the girl, and wondered how I managed to be her friend so quickly.
I was starting to really like living in Forks.
When I walked into the gymnasium, I saw that Alice had already changed for class. I undressed as quickly as I could and hurried out of the locker room. I was surprised to see that Alice was standing with Edward. I was beginning to think that he had dropped out or something.
"Hey, Alice!" I called.
She waved, but seemed to be in deep conversation with her brother, so I stopped and walked over to where Luke was talking to a pretty girl that I didn't really know.
"You not hanging out with Alice?" he asked when I stood beside him.
"Good luck with that," the girl sneered. "Now that she's got one of her own to talk to, she won't bother with you anymore. You're not good enough for them. None of us are."
"What the Hell is your problem?" I snapped, glaring at her. "What have the Cullens ever done to you?"
She gaped at me with wide eyes. "Well, nothing," she stuttered, "but-"
"But what?" I asked. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with them. You people are just jealous because they're so freaking pretty! The Cullens are no different than you or I, so why do you treat them like they're some kind of monsters? It's just mean."
"Is there a problem here, ladies?"
I looked up and saw that Coach Clapp was standing beside me, looking down at me with his eyebrows raised.
"No, sir," I muttered, embarrassed. "Nothing at all."
"Good," he said. "Now, for yelling in my gym, you can go outside and run ten laps of the building."
"But it's snowing!"
"You should have thought of that before you started a screaming match in my gymnasium, Miss Swan," he responded. "Now, out you go."
I huffed dramatically, and made my way outside. I began my laps, trying to figure out what had come over me. I usually didn't react to what people said. I supposed it was just my being overtired.
"Hey."
I looked over my shoulder and saw Alice running to catch up to me.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked.
"Coach Clapp sent me out to make sure you were doing your laps," she replied, jogging alongside me. "Thanks for that."
"For what?"
"For that!" she laughed, gesturing towards the gym. "I don't think anyone has ever stood up for any of us before."
"I didn't know you could hear me," I muttered, blushing.
"Oh, believe me, everyone heard you."
"Thanks, that makes me feel better."
Alice laughed again, and continued to run with me.
We ran for a couple of minutes in silence, me puffing slightly, and Alice showing no signs of exertion. Finally, I finished my laps, and we slowed to a walk.
"You didn't have to run with me, you know," I said as we walked back to the gym.
"It doesn't matter," she replied. "I didn't mind."
I shook my head and snorted. "You are one strange girl, Cullen."
She grinned broadly at me, and winked. "You have no idea."
At lunchtime, I was sitting at the table with Angela and Luke and Lauren and Eric, laughing at a crazy story that Tyler had just told us. Bella had been late getting to the cafeteria, and she and Mike and Jessica were still in line to get food.
When they sat down, I realized that Bella had nothing but a can of soda.
"Are you not hungry?" I asked quietly.
"She's not feeling very well," Jessica announced loudly. Bella's face flamed, and she didn't say anything.
"Are you okay?" Mike asked anxiously. "Do you need to go home?"
"No, I'm fine," Bella assured him. "I'm just feeling a little queasy."
Everyone else went back to their conversations, but I stayed out of them, keeping an eye on my sister instead. Although Bella often acted as though she was the older sister, and even though she was old enough to take care of herself, I had always been protective of her. Maybe it was because she was always hurting herself, or maybe it was her quiet naivety, but I had always felt the need to keep her safe. Knowing that she was sick, I was debating whether or not she should go to the nurse. I shook my head; if she said she was fine, then I would believe her. I'd just keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't get worse.
I pretended to be interested in what Mike was saying, but I was really watching Bella out of the corner of my eye. Every couple of minutes, she would glance towards the Cullen's table, and then, as if catching herself, would drop her head back to the table. I looked over and saw that there were now five people at the table. Edward Cullen, who I hadn't seen at school since our first day here, was now sitting with the rest of his family.
"Cullen's back; I wonder where he was." I commented.
"I couldn't care less where he was," Mike replied. "I just wish he would have stayed there."
I shot him a glare, which he ignored, and turned back to my food. I don't know what it was that people said about the Cullens, but their attitude towards them was really starting to get to me.
I watched them for a couple of moments, thinking. Other than their obvious beauty, the Cullens were no different than any of the rest of us. They were laughing with one another, their smiles making them even more stunning, and as I watched, Emmett began to shake the dripping snow out of his hair, making Alice and Rosalie turn away from him to avoid being hit with it. I laughed, and Alice looked up. She couldn't have heard me, but it was as though she had. She grinned when she saw me watching them, and I waved at her.
Edward looked up at that moment, and Bella, who had been watching the table with me, dropped her head so that he couldn't see how red her face was turning. I watched her for a moment, and then it clicked; she liked him! I had never known Bella to like a guy before, so this was a big deal to me. I had an internal freak out, but calmed myself so I didn't embarrass her. I'd talk to her about it later when we got home.
"Edward Cullen is looking at you," Jessica muttered to Bella.
"He doesn't look angry, does he?" Bella asked, sounding worried. I frowned; why would he be angry?
"No," Jessica said, sounding confused. "Should he be?"
"I don't think he likes me," she sighed, laying her head in her arms.
"The Cullens don't like anybody," Jessica told her, sounding as though she was trying to make her feel better. "Well, they don't notice anyone enough to like them. But he's still staring at you."
"Stop looking at him!" Bella hissed without looking up. I chuckled under my breath; she was acting like a third grader with her first crush. Well, I supposed it was her first crush.
Mike drew our attention away from the Cullens by his loud plans to start an epic snowball fight in the parking lot after school. Everyone thought that it was a great idea, but I could see that Bella thought otherwise. Her face was twisted into an almost painful expression. She really didn't like the thought of a snowball fight.
She didn't have to worry, though. As we were leaving the cafeteria, the group of students at the door in front let out a collective groan. When we stepped up, I could see why. During the lunch period, the air must have warmed, because now there was rain falling from the sky, melting the snow that had collected in the morning. Bella looked just as relieved as the rest of the school looked upset. I was on the fence; I didn't love snow, but from my winter in Germany, I had learned to enjoy a good snowball fight. I guess I would have to wait until it snowed again.
I was walking towards the parking lot at the end of the day, completely lost in my own thoughts. Charlie had spoken to someone at work about getting me to take my driver's test, and it was scheduled for Saturday morning. I had spent all last period reading over my 'Rules of the Road' handbook, hoping to memorize it all before then. I was so involved in my own thoughts that I didn't notice someone following me until I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Ah!" I cried. I spun around and, completely by instinct, punched the person in the chest. Pain shot through my hand, and I whimpered as I nursed it against my own chest. I looked up into the amused face of Edward Cullen.
"What the Hell?" I snapped. "Why did you grab me?"
"I said your name several times," he replied in a soft voice. "I didn't think you could hear me; I thought that perhaps you were listening to music."
"No, I was thinking about my driver's test tomorrow," I replied. I pulled off my mitten and examined my hand. "What the Hell do you have in your jacket that is so hard?"
"Nothing," he chuckled. "It's just me."
"Well, you shouldn't be so hard," I growled, starting to walk again. Edward kept pace with me.
"Maybe you shouldn't hit people," he responded, sounding highly amused. "It's not nice."
"Well, neither is scaring someone," I retorted.
"I apologize," he said, for once sounding completely serious. "It was not my intention."
I stopped and looked up at him again. "Is there something that you need?"
"I just wanted to apologize for knocking you down last week," he said sincerely. "I hope I didn't hurt you."
"No, I was fine," I told him. I found it strange that he would take the time to track me down just to say 'sorry'. "No damage done."
"So you can forgive me?"
"There's nothing to forgive," I said. "It was an accident. But I need to go; Bella will be waiting for me."
"Yes, of course. I will see you on Monday."
"Bye." I turned and hurried away from him.
Bella was already sitting in the truck when I got there. She had the heater turned on full blast, which I was thankful for. While talking to Edward, I had gotten soaked by the mist that was falling. I hadn't thought to put up my hood, and my hair was wet and stuck to my head. I felt like a very cold, drowned rat.
"Why were you talking to Edward Cullen?" Bella asked as I pulled down the mirror to study my reflection.
"He just wanted to apologize for knocking me down last week," I told her, trying in vain to fluff up my hair. "Maybe I judged him too quickly; he seems nice enough today."
I glanced at her, but my attention was caught by a waving Alice. I looked out Bella's window and smiled, waving back. Bella followed my gaze as she began backing out. At the last second, she slammed on the brakes, sending me forward into the dashboard. I pushed myself up again and looked out the back window; Bella had come less than a foot away from crashing into small Toyota that was behind us.
"You want me to drive?" I asked, glaring at her.
"You don't have your licence," she said quickly, looking directly ahead of her, her face flushing madly.
"Maybe not," I agreed, "but I probably would have noticed the car sitting directly behind us."
"Oh shut up!" she snapped.
As she slowly backed out of the space, I looked at Alice and rolled my eyes dramatically. Both she and Edward laughed.
