Disclaimer: Do not own Twilight or any of its wonderful characters, not even Carlisle…sigh.
Chapter 2: Inner Monster
I awoke Friday to the feel of my favorite vampire's cold lips on my neck, and then my mouth. My heart started pounding and just as I was moving in for more, he pulled away chuckling. I groaned and opened my eyes.
"Good morning beautiful", my own personal Adonis said to me while smiling that heart melting crooked smile of his. "Good morning handsome", I mumbled back with a smile of my own.
He continued to smile at me and then said, "I've got to go now Bella. The others are waiting for me." I frowned and then sighed, "OK then, I love you Edward. Have fun and come back to me quickly."
He pecked me on the lips and said, "I love you too Bella. I'll be back before you know it. Be safe and have fun with dad this weekend." He brushed his hand on my cheek and gave me one last kiss before jumping out my window.
I sighed and leaned back into my pillows. While I no longer had minor panic attacks when Edward left me, I still was left with an uneasy feeling. My heart would continue to ache for Edward even though I knew he would come back to me. I only hoped that I wouldn't have any nightmares, but I knew it was fruitless. Without a doubt, any time Edward left I would be plagued with nightmares of being alone or of the Volturi killing Edward and the rest of my vampire family. Hopefully they won't be bad enough to where I start screaming in my sleep. That would be embarrassing. Carlisle would probably think I was some nutcase not worthy of his son's affections if I couldn't even go through a night without screaming like some banshee at a stupid dream. Oh well, I might as well get ready for school. Ugh, that was another thing that sucked. Going through school without Edward or Alice was just plain boring. What's life without vampires? Boring, that's what.
It was lunch time now and I was sitting at the table with Jessica, Mike, Angela, Ben, Eric, and Lauren (the bitch). I was day-dreaming about a shirtless Edward in our sunny meadow when I realized Jessica and the others were looking at me expectantly. Oops.
I continued to stare at them trying to figure out what they'd been talking about when Angela, God bless her, came to my rescue. She smiled at me understandingly and said, "Jessica was asking if you wanted to go to her cousin's party in Port Angeles?"
"It's going to be totally awesome Bella! It's a college party but my cousin said we could come and all since we're seniors and practically in college and all", she said superiorly.
"Yeah," Mike added, "you should definitely come Bella. You're always hanging out with Cullen, how bout you spend some time with us?"
I was about to say no when a thought hit me. Well, Edward did want me to hang with my 'human' friends. Why not go to the party? Maybe it will be fun. He might not like that it's in Port Angeles, or that there will be older kids, but so what? Since when is he the boss of me? Besides, I can just say I wanted the human experience of a college party. With that thought I started nodding and said, "Sure Jessica, I'll go. Sounds like fun."
Jessica and Mike looked thrilled. "Awesome!" Jessica exclaimed. "You can ride with me and Mike, if you want", she said.
I nodded once more and responded, "Sure. What time are you going to pick me up?"
She smiled excitedly once more and replied, "7:00! I'm so glad you're coming! It's gonna be so awesome! I mean, how cool are we? An actual college party!..." she droned on.
By that point I'd tuned out. Hmm, I began to think. I wonder if Carlisle will mind. He shouldn't I reassured myself. He probably won't even realize I'm gone. Edward did say he had a late surgery, so I'm sure I'll be back before too late. How late can these parties go anyway? Besides, I'm an adult. I can stay out as late as I want. With that reassuring thought I began once more to tune in to Jessica's soliloquy.
I was starting to get ready for the party when my cell began to ring. I looked at it and saw that it was Carlisle calling. Uh oh, I thought as I answered it.
"Hello?" I said
"Hello Bella, its Carlisle. How are you sweetheart?" he asked kindly.
"I'm great Carlisle, and you?" I replied nervously.
"Splendid", he said. "I was just calling to tell you that I'll be home earlier than I thought because I was able to move the surgery to an earlier time slot. I should be home by 7:00, which means we could spend some more time together", he said excitedly.
I will never know what possessed me to lie at this point, but a feeling of rebelliousness and a strong urge to state my independence had taken hold of me. If it had been any other day I would have gladly have jumped at the chance to spend more time with Carlisle, but right now my inner monster was telling me to rebel against my vampire family's over protectiveness. And it was also telling me that Carlisle would not condone an unsupervised college party.
Before I could lose my new found nerve, I quickly replied, "Oh Carlisle, I'm sorry but a bunch of girls at school are having a slumber party tonight and I already promised I'd go." I hoped that my lying didn't sound as feeble as it usually did.
"Oh", Carlisle responded disappointedly. "That's wonderful Bella. No need to be sorry. We still have the rest of the weekend to spend time together. Whose house will you be staying at? And I assume there will be parental supervision?"
Damn my overprotective vampires, I thought. "It's going to be at Jessica's house and her parents will be there, of course," I replied quickly in what hopefully was a nonchalant voice.
"Wonderful" he replied kindly. "Well then Bella, be good and I hope you enjoy yourself. Also, keep your cell phone on hand in case of emergencies. I'll see you tomorrow."
Guilt wracked me and I just wanted to blurt the truth out, but all I said was "I will, bye."
"Bye sweetie", he said and hung up.
I groaned out loud and buried my head in my hands. I took a deep breath and tried to push the feelings of guilt that were eating away at my rebellious monster. I can't believe I lied to Carlisle. That's like lying to a priest or something. And he sounded truly upset at the fact that he wouldn't be seeing me today. Jeez, I feel like scum. I just hope he doesn't find out about tonight's adventures, and if he does, well I don't want to think about that.
It's funny, I thought, how I'm worried more about what Carlisle thinks than Charlie. Charlie would be pissed if he knew what I was planning but its Carlisle's reaction that matters most to me. I don't know why, but sometimes I feel like Carlisle and Esme are my parents instead of Charlie and Renee. Don't get me wrong, I love Charlie and Renee to death, but they've never exactly been the 'parental' type. It's always been me taking care of them.
I took another deep breath and my inner monster finally won out with thoughts of proving to Edward that the wolves would be better friends than Jessica and Mike.
As I finished getting ready I began to push away any lingering thoughts of guilt and rationality out of my head and focused instead on thoughts of the party. I had never been to a party, let alone a college party. I'd heard rumors, of course. I mean, who hasn't. There'd be dancing, drinking, smoking, and sex. What fun, I thought disgustedly. Oh well, after this weekend, hopefully Edward would see how much more dangerous humans friends were for me than werewolf friends.
A/N: please read and review!