Chapter 2

Edward

September 1995

Alice, with a lollipop in mouth and little braids littered in her hair, pops her head in my bedroom. "I can drop you off. It's on my way."

"You're not even supposed to be driving. You're only fifteen," I say, grabbing my new backpack off the edge of my bed. Praying … oh boy, am I hoping that Alice didn't see me.

Her entire body steps into my room. "Hmm…"

"What, Al? Leave me alone. I'm riding bikes with Em and Jazz." I blush. Man, am I blushing.

"I suppose with the Chief of Police living next door I should wait until I get a license, but it's raining … were you looking out your window?"

"No."

Alice walks past me, smiling, smelling like grape. Her lips are a faint purple, and her finger nails are each painted a different color. "You should ask Bella if she wants to ride bikes with you to school."

"No."

"That's a shame. She's so very, very pretty, Edward."

I know. I've seen. Our bedroom windows share a lawn of grass between. I watch her, and sometimes I see her. She's been here three days and her walls are littered with different posters. I've seen her dance. She sucks.

Alice walks by, smelling like that weird herb she smokes. "Enjoy the sixth grade, squirt. I love you."

"Herbs," she promised when I asked the first time I smelled it. "If mom and dad ever ask its only herbal incense, okay," she insisted. I believed her.

"I hope you hate the tenth," I shout as she goes.

.

.

.

"Edward, raise your hand."

I do. I raise it, but it shakes.

Can she see me quiver and quake?

"You can take a seat next to Edward, Isabella." Mrs. Alabaster tells points in my direction. "Everyone, this is Isabella. She's new. Be kind."

She spots my lifted rickety hand. A smile as big as the sun lifts on her rosy lips. She's wearing pink circle glasses today, with a peace sign drawn on her right cheek. Her clothes look a lot like the ones she wore the day she moved in. Jasper and Emmett make kissing sounds behind us.

"Hi," she says before sitting.

I drop my hand, shove my desk back, and smash Emmett's fingers. This makes Rosalie Hale giggle.

"My name is Bella, and I live next door to you. I'm ten, but my birthday is on September, thirteenth. In ten days I'll be eleven. That makes me a Virgo."

Emmett and Jasper are hushed, and if I listened very carefully, I can hear my own heart beating. She spoke to me and it was lovely.

"My name is Edward. My birthday is September, thirteenth, too."

Bella smiles, chewing a piece of gum. "You know what that means, right, Edward?"

I shake my head. Counting her braids—braided hair like my herb smoking sister.

"It means we can have a double birthday party. Me and you."

"Edward, Isabella … time to keep it down." Mrs. Alabaster announces to the entire class earning us ooohhh's and ahhhhhh's, strange looks and whispers.

Sometime later, after practicing our spelling, I nudge Bella with my elbow. "Do you have a bike?"

She shakes her head.

Sometime later, after we've practiced our math, she nudges my arm. "But I have rollerblades."