A/N: And now, the plot begins. YAY (:
Chapter One – Sometimes, secrets hurt.
Bella's POV:
School, she loved it now that she's met Edward Cullen. She can't seem to get enough of him! The bell rang for first period just as Bella had stepped onto school ground, which left no time to scope out Edward. But why would she need to? He's in her first class. Biology quickly became her favorite subject, her favorite part of the day. No, it wasn't because Mr. Banner made that class interesting...rather, a more dashing man did. She squealed and grinned broadly as she broke into a near run for this class. Over the past few weeks of knowing Edward, she found out that he had two sisters, and two brothers and they were all adopted. Though, that was hard for Bella to believe, they all had the same beauty, the same eyes, and the same grace.
Today she anticipated what she would learn next in their low conversations in Bio. That only set her off more- to get there sooner. Finally, before even two minutes passed she was at the class door. She braced herself for the beauty that would knock the wind from her, and opened the door. There he was, like every day since she's gotten there. Leaning over the black lab table in the back of the room, looking spaced out and bored. Just as she had gazed over at him, hearts practically floating from her, he looked over at her and a small smile crept at the corner of his lips. She couldn't believe it! He- Edward Cullen- was on the verge of a smile because of HER! Pink quickly filled her cheeks at this thought and she stumbled forward, clumsy as she is.
"Hey, Bella! How are you today?" He asked, now with a smile. "I'm fine, and you?" She'd learn to contain her cool around him. "Just peachy." he replied, with a hint of sarcasm. She was concerned but didn't dig too deep in it.
Edward's POV:
3...2...1, she entered the room. He could help but smile at her as she looked like a newborn deer barely beginning to walk. We made some small talk before Mr. Banner cleared his throat, and they looked up at him. He started class, but to him it sounded more like the adults on Charlie Brown. 'waa-wa-wawawawaaa' he chuckled at this thought which earned a curious look from Bella. He shook his head, and if he could he would be blushing just as much as she. How adorable Bella was to him. She slid him a note across the lab instead of talking in a low murmur seeing as how oddly the teacher was strict today.
Hey... what's wrong?
Was he that bad? Did his sorrow show in his face? Probably, he felt lazy today.
Nothing, really. Just...you know- teenager stuff.
He lied on the paper that now had both scraggly and elegant handwriting on it.
Are you sure? You can tell me anything. I promise I won't tell anyone.
Hah. He hid his laugh at this. Yeah, too bad this 'secret' was her. He loved her. He couldn't though. She was only human. Maybe he could... the thought flickered in his mind. What if he really could tell her? But that would put her in too much danger. He did it anyway. He decided he wouldn't actually tell her. He just wouldn't you know...go too far.
He took a deep breath.
Okay... it's you. I, well, I love you.
Before he folded it and sent it her way, he re-read it again and again. It now looked odd on the paper, and he thought about what her reaction would be, since he couldn't read her mind. Would it be strange to her that he's fallen in love with her, only knowing each others existence roughly a month ago? Probably. But he was past caring as he flicked it toward her. His head was toward the teacher so that it wouldn't seem creepy that he was practically breathing down her neck reading her reaction- when... indeed he was. He watched her facial expression, calm and smooth, as she opened the paper. He held the breath he didn't need and studied her. Shock. It was all across her face (along with the usual, but more powerful blush soaking up her cheeks). He instantly regretted it. Until a smile played along her lips, a grin now as he followed her eyes which kept re-reading it much like he did, but with more disbelief and joy.
Her shaking hands set the paper down, afraid to make eye contact, as she scribbled something and then finally slid it closed and looked up at him. He turned his head and they met eyes, it felt like the first time they'd ever met eyes though it wasn't. This only lasted a few seconds as his curiosity swelled up inside me and he looked down to the paper that laid innocently before him.
I think I love you too...
His eyes lit up and his grin was so huge. He pushed the paper aside and looked at her, she was studying him too. Suddenly, as they met gazes again, he felt the NEED to tell her. Tell her every hidden thing about him. He never wanted to hide anything from her. Ever. He looked down urgently now, retrieving the paper from his side.
I really need to tell you something else, I just don't think writing it down on a note is appropriate for this though. Will you meet me after school? Maybe we could take a walk in the park or something...
He slid it to her, biting his lip unsure of what he had just done. She glanced at the clock, and only nodded. The bell rang seconds later. Though, to him it didn't feel like seconds when he was looking at her.
This was very wrong. Very. He could not do this...put her in danger like he is. (A/N: Just in case you haven't caught on, if any human knows of the vampire world, they either have to turn into one, or die.) 1:30 pm rolled around faster than Edward wanted it to. He knew what he would do. He already put a note in her locker:
I'm sorry Bella, I don't feel like now is the time to tell you. (Never was the time to tell her. And he knew he would wait until then.) Please do not wait for me after school. I don't know if I can handle this at the moment...
Love, Edward.
He had to leave before school ended, 2 o'clock. Which meant he had to leave now. He was surprised to see his siblings crowded in front of the car as he approached. Well, not really. Alice. She'd seen it in a vision. "You weren't going to leave with out us, were you?" Fake worry came from Jasper as he smirked. I laughed and went passed them to the front door. They followed my lead and entered the car.
Bella's POV:
This is the best day EVER. She could not wait for 2 to get here. No, not one second! She drummed the eraser side of her pencil against the text book that was placed in front of her, while she stared at the clock. "UHM! Ms. Swan, would like to honor us with an answer?" The teacher said more than asked. She was about to stutter some sort of apology, but the bell rang. She grinned and the teacher assumed it was a smug one. Only half smug, and half joy. Mostly joy though. A second barely passed when she had everything packed in her arms and out the door.
She sped to her locker, she wanted to go faster than her feet could take her. To Bella it took entirely too long to get there. She was worried Edward might get frustrated with her long absence and just leave. She hastily twirled the code to her lock and pulled it down. Just as she had swung the door open and shoved her books in there, a letter popped out and onto the floor like a feather. She pulled her eye brows together. What is this? A skeptic look on her face. She opened it quickly, she needed to get to Edward faster! Bella skimmed the words. She drew a blank. Skimmed them again. And again. And again. Just like she had with the previous note. Except this time her face was fixed with despair.
Her eyes watered up, and she could hardly see through the blur. She quickly pulled her jacket over her, slammed her locker, and scrunched up the paper in her balling up hands which were being tucked into the jacket pockets forcefully. She walked fast, and tried to show no emotion in case Edward was some where near by. Had this whole thing been a joke? She reached her truck and sat for a while. No longer could she hold up the tears as they flowed down her flushed face.
She knew her destination, and it wasn't home. She had been sitting in her car, calming down for about an hour. She pulled out the note one more time: I don't know if I can handle this at the moment...
Was he referring to her? Did that mean that he couldn't love her right now? Ugh. She wanted to forget the whole thing. She started the car and it roared, which attracted a few surprised and unsurprised looks from some passing students.
La Push. That's where she wanted to be. Comforted by Jacob. And she would be, in about 5 minutes. She was glad that her truck was loud, at least Jay would be outside waiting, rather than Billy coming to answer the door to see her bad shape. She parked the Chevy and turned it off, staring at the center of the steering wheel. Then she slowly lifted her eyes to see Jacob, as usual, leaning against the door frame with a grin. Only this time, his grin faded at the sight of a distressed Bella. He came running to her, opening the car door, and pulling her out. He knew instinctively that the setting sun of the beach would calm her.
Tears welled up again, thinking of today's lie from Edward. Still not a word spoken between Jacob and Bella as he carried her bridal style to the sandy shore. He still had her in his lap, curled up in his chest as he sat down. He whispered soothing things like "It's okay Bella" "I'm here, shh" and such while brushing his fingers through her hair and rocking her subtly. It actually did calm her down. Finally after sniffling a few more times she could talk. "H-hey, Jacob..." She said shyly and only dug her face in his chest more. "Hey" He said with a warm smile. "You okay? Do you want to talk about it?" He asked softly, hoping to help her. She nodded and looked up to see him.
She could only imagine what she looked like. Tear stained face, puffy eyes, and a red nose. "kay" He replied encouragingly. "Well..." she went off to explain everything. Before she could take another breath, she was done. Jacob was very still. She realized her mistake too late. Now Jacob was on the verge of crying- but he was much too strong. He would never cry in front of her. "I-I'm sorry Jake...I didn't mean to-" "Nah, naah it's okay...um, so yeah. Uh, Edward seems like a nice guy" He said rolling his eyes. "Okay, I know that you- well I you're not making it a secret that you...- ahh!" she had trouble explaining this as less awkwardly as she could. "I know what you mean, go on." He said dully. Which gave her a pang of guilt. "But, I just, can't see you as more than a brother. Listen to me-" Jacob was looking away, as if in deep thought. But she knew he was clinging on to every word coming out of her mouth. "Jacob, look at me- please." she put more force into it. He didn't move. She sighed heavily and put her fingers around his chin and pulled him to look at her. "I don't love you that way, I love Edward." She said, more pleading than anything for him to understand. He didn't reply. She sighed again.
They sat there in silence, Bella shifting uncomfortably in Jakes arms. He felt it, but didn't let go. He knew Bella would never let him hold her like this again, so he held on to her as long as he could. Holding her to his chest. By now, they were both looking at the setting sun. Then it was gone, just like that. He looked down at Bella whose arms were folded and was still looking in the direction of the setting sun. He let out a loud, very deliberate and exaggerated sigh. Jacob stood up and set Bella to her feet. They walked back in the same silence, the same silence that held strong as Bella got into her truck and waved goodbye, in which, he waved
goodbye too.
Just as she was going to pull out, he stopped her by putting a hand on the window. "Bella, I'm... sorry. I'll always love you. I'll love you more than a friend forever- and nothing will change that. I understand, and...I just hope we can still be best friends..." He spoke just above a whisper. "Thank you, Jacob. Yes, we'll always be best friends. In my heart, we'll always be best friends." She repeated and spoke in the same tone as he. He let go and went to stand on the porch. She pulled out and he watched her leave.
Woot! Reveiws are amazing, k? (:
