My first weekend in Forks was generally uneventful. Carly had to work for most of it, but she was able to make it to Betty Black's birthday party, much to the surprise of everyone.
I spent a lot of my time with Jackie at the party. She was still in the excitable stage of her teen years, but she had this easiness about her that was addictive. She kind of reminded me of my dad, in a way. I was surprised to find out that I was genuinely interested in what she talked about too. She hadn't been lying when she said that she knew cars; she showed me the old VW Rabbit she was working on, explaining how hard it was to find parts that she could afford.
I was actually kind of jealous of Jackie. I'd never been inherently good at anything. Everything to do with footwork, like sports or dancing, was out of the question. I'd never been mechanically minded and I didn't have the eye required for art. Basically, I was good at writing essays and that was it.
"Earth to Brennan! Did you hear what I said?" Jesse's voice entered my cocoon of thoughts.
I dragged myself back to the lunchroom and looked to him, "Sorry, no. What did you say?"
"I said," he said from the corner of his mouth, smirking, "Elise Cullen is staring at you."
My heart stopped and my head jerked directly to the Cullens' lunch table. Elise Cullen's striking reddish-brown hair would've identified her immediately, even if she hadn't been looking right at me.
Inevitably, I blushed bright red and bent my head, suddenly loosing my appetite.
The good thing was, she didn't look very mad today. Maybe she'd just been having a bad day when I met her… which had turned into a very bad week, causing her to be absent from school. The reasonableness of my thoughts didn't soothe my stomach one iota.
"Is she still staring at me, Jesse?" I asked later.
Jesse glanced over my shoulder and shook his head, "Not anymore. Come on, you need to lighten up. Maybe she thinks you're cute! That'd be a first for her!"
"I don't think she likes me very much," I admitted, leaning my head in my hands.
"The Cullens don't like anyone," he sniffed.
Mike suddenly exclaimed, "The forecast says it's supposed to snow tomorrow!"
The cheers that went up around me would've astounded me if I weren't already preoccupied with the fact that Elise Cullen had returned. Who in their right minds would cheer about snow?
I actually thought I might be sick as Andrew, Mike and I walked to Biology together. What the heck was I supposed to do? What should I say to her? I'd rehearsed this a million times in my head, but with it actually about to happen, everything I thought of seemed insanely stupid.
Elise wasn't there by the time we arrived, for which I was relieved. I sat down and opened my books. I started doodling in the margins of my notebook in an effort to ditch the nerves. I kept telling myself that I didn't have any reason to be nervous. I hadn't done anything wrong. This was Elise Cullen's problem, not mine.
My stomach jumped when I heard her pull out her stool and sit down. I didn't look up. It took everything I had to look as if I was ignoring her. It was all I could do, really. I didn't have it in me to start a conversation with someone who hated my guts.
"Hello, Brennan."
I looked up in pure shock that she was speaking to me.
Elise had a pleasant smile on her lips. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself before. I'm Elise Cullen." Her voice was soft and low, ringing like rich bell tones. It sent chills up my spine.
I blinked stupidly at the sudden change of events and murmured the first thing that came to my mind, "How do you know my name?"
Elise's smile widened, hitting me like a physical punch to the stomach. "I think everyone here knows your name, Brennan. You're very popular around here."
I suddenly remembered how to inhale, saying absently, "I don't know why." Feeling a bit light-headed, I turned away, hating how weird that must've sounded. It'd just slipped out.
Mrs. Banner started her lecture about the different stages of Meiosis, but I wasn't paying very much attention. My thoughts kept returning to the beautiful girl sitting next to me.
Soon enough, though, Mrs. Banner set us loose with an assignment, which we were supposed to do with our partners. When I turned toward Elise with the intent of asking which parts of the worksheet she remembered, she was leaning away from me. She had her face turned away from me, as if she smelled something bad. Her hands were clenched on her thighs.
Being as discreet as I could, I pulled my t-shirt away from me and checked, but all I could smell was my cheap deodorant.
Not wanting to bother her, I just started in on the assignment alone. I knew all the answers anyway from my advanced placement in Phoenix.
"Do you like science, Brennan?" Elise suddenly asked.
I looked up and was once again distracted by the sheer amount of beauty coming off her. Shaking myself mentally, I answered, "Sure. It's alright."
"But it's not your favorite?" she prompted.
I shrugged, "I typically do better in my English classes, but science is interesting too."
Elise leaned in a little to look at the assignment, saying, "Well, you certainly know enough about science to answer all of these. I'm almost frightened to see your grades in English."
I smiled weakly and scratched the back of my head, unsure how to respond to that.
Elise Cullen had a classic style of talking that I found fascinating. How many teenagers used the word 'frightened' anymore? The precise way she pronounced every word made me think of the really old black-and-white films Penny would watch.
"What about you?" I asked, feeling awkward. "Do you have a favorite subject?"
Elise smiled crookedly, "Not especially. I do enjoy History classes, but not for reasons most people would appreciate."
That peeked my curiosity. "What do you mean?"
Elise looked at me from the corner of her eye, as if trying to size me up. "I guess you could say that I'm a history buff. History textbooks… amuse me."
I didn't quite get why that would hard for people to 'appreciate,' but I nodded politely and let it go.
Working together, Elise and I finished the assignment well before the other students. I could see Tayla Crowley and Bailey Cheney trying to sneak peaks at the book under their table. Andrew Webber was staring hard at his own assignment, tapping his head with his pencil and his tongue caught between his teeth.
"Did you hear about the snow tomorrow?" Elise asked, clearing her throat. "Exciting, isn't it?"
"Not really," I said quietly. I was surprised again by my honesty. Maybe her looks were meddling with my wits.
"You don't like the cold," she stated. It wasn't a question.
I shook my head. "Not one bit."
"I hope you don't mind my asking, but if you dislike the cold so much, why move here, of all places?" she asked, seemingly going out of her way to be polite. Her light-brown, almost-gold eyes looked at me curiously.
Distracted by her eye-color, I blurted out, "My dad… he uh… he and my stepmom got a job offer."
Elise tilted her head, her glistening, penny-colored hair draping over one shoulder. "I'm sorry, I don't quite understand."
I threw caution to the wind and started into the whole story. "My dad and my stepmom are talent scouts for a record company. Not a big one, but you know… they love their job. Anyway, they were offered a gig to travel to different countries for twice the pay they were getting. Penny can speak basically every language in the book, and my dad is the friendliest guy they have, so they were the perfect fit. They couldn't very well leave a minor in Phoenix alone, so I moved here with my mom."
"That doesn't seem very fair," Elise said, catching me off-guard with the tense undertone in her voice, as if she really needed to cough but wasn't able to.
"What doesn't?" I asked distractedly, noticing the way her hands were balled up on her thighs, like she might be in pain. Her face was absolutely serene though, which confused me.
"That you were sent here so your parents could take the job," she said, calling my attention back to the conversation with blinding force.
"No one sent me here," I said a little more sharply than I'd intended.
Elise looked confused now, not saying anything.
I clarified, replying tersely, "My dad deserved the job. I came here so he could take it."
Elise didn't seem upset by my defensiveness though, saying, "But now you're unhappy."
"So?" I realized I was being a bit of a jerk, but I couldn't really help it. Kind of a touchy subject.
Elise shook her head, "It just doesn't seem fair to me."
"Ever heard the saying that life isn't fair?" I said in an effort to lighten the mood, smiling.
Elise smiled back at me, stealing my breath. "It does sound fairly familiar."
The look on her beautiful face was so gentle that I found myself staring. The apples of her lily-white cheeks relaxed, the full curve of her mouth flushed to a healthy pink, her amber eyes bright beneath her shadowy eyelashes.
"Do you wear contacts?" I suddenly found myself asking. I regretted it immediately as Elise smiled at me in amusement.
"No, I don't," she said lightly. "Why?"
"Nothing," I answered, trying to quickly brush it off. "I just thought you're eyes were a different color before. That's all."
Elise's smile vanished. "Oh." She turned her attention to the front of the classroom and didn't try talking to me again the whole class period. She seemed angry again, her jaw clenched and she stared ahead. Her pale hands alternated between viscously gripping the table and viscously gripping her seat. She seemed ready to launch herself off the stool, as if she couldn't stand sitting where she was for much longer.
I had different feelings concerning my science partner now. She'd acted friendly enough when she was talking to me, but she looked like she was in pain several times during the class period. Maybe she had a medical condition I didn't know about?
The bell rang and Elise was out the door before most of us were even out of our seats.
I watched her go with mixed feelings. I realized that I'd just had the chance to ask her what had happened last week, like the scene with her brother and all of the glaring. Looks like hers could make a guy forget his own name.
"Did you stab Elise with a pencil or something?" Mike asked laughingly as she approached my table. "I don't think I've ever seen that girl run before."
So she didn't normally act like that? That put a bit of a hole in my theory.
I stood, gathering up my things. "Maybe she just wanted to get to class early?" I answered.
Mike snorted inelegantly. "That certainly would fit the description. All the Cullens are teacher's pets."
I just shrugged and led the way out the doors.
"So, I saw you guys talking," Mike hedged. "What did you talk about?"
"Just about classes and stuff," I answered, shrugging. "I guess she likes History."
"Who likes history?" Jesse appeared next to us as we were walking to the gym.
"Elise Cullen, apparently," Mike answered for me. I got the impression that Mike didn't like Elise very much, but that seemed the case with most kids.
After school, I walked the short distance to work.
The good thing about being a groundskeeper is that you don't need a whole lot of hand-eye coordination. You can take as much time as you needed, as long as you get the job done, and plants could be very forgiving if you dropped them.
My job was the best. Sure, I was only getting eight dollars an hour and most of my time was spent outdoors in the rain, but I also got to talk with funny, retired people. As narcissistic as it sounds, the burn of my muscles after a long day made me feel a bit more masculine. I was already getting callouses on my hands with only a week under my belt.
Jerry Coulter, the fulltime groundskeeper at Laurel Springs Retirement Home, was about ready to enter retirement himself. His back was as straight as an arrow and his hearing was flawless, but he refused to wear glasses and his eyes were getting ridiculously weak. A lot of my job was making sure Jerry didn't accidently grab the wrong end of a pair of sheers or try using a lawn chair to mow the grass. The hardest part about it was not laughing. Jerry got really embarrassed about it, and by embarrassed, I mean angry.
Technically, the job description had me gardening, but over the years, Jerry had taken up a lot of the maintenance around the mansion. This part of the job required a lot more diligence on my part, but I was starting to get the hang of it. I'd only dropped four light bulbs and fallen off the ladder twice, none of the incidents resulting in serious injury.
And if I was being honest, being inside the mansion with all the elderly people was my favorite part. Making friends with people from other eras was just so much easier for me, for whatever reason. These old peoples' loneliness practically guaranteed their loving a goody-good like me anyway.
Today, I was transferring a couple of rosebushes that Jerry had accidently planted in the middle of the lawn this morning. I was trying to work quickly while he was fixing the systems on the industrial fridge in the kitchen, so he wouldn't be embarrassed. The rain made digging slightly easier, but a lot messier; my raincoat was splattered in mud.
I was thinking about Elise and her siblings as I worked. None of them seemed to fit in at school. They were loners; kept to themselves. I had to wonder at that, with them being so ridiculously good-looking. Maybe it made everyone uncomfortable, how beautiful they all were? Elise was friendly enough to me today, despite her odd behavior last week.
"Back again, eh, Bradley?" warbled an old voice from the deck behind me. Mrs. Quaker shuffled out the door with her walker, peering at me with enormously magnified eyes and a smile.
"Yes, ma'am. I'll be here everyday after school," I answered with a smile, carefully setting my shovel down and walking forward to grab a chair for her.
"Which is such a pleasant surprise," she said as I helped her sit down and grabbed a thick quilt from inside to place over her bony legs. "Young people these days don't have any kind of work ethic. Everything is just given to them. Like my grandson down there in Florida. That boy has the worst sense of responsibility I've ever seen. It's nice to see a young man like yourself, not afraid to get your hands dirtied up." Her dramatic speech had me equal parts amused and self-conscious.
I shrugged diplomatically and said, "I enjoy being here, Mrs. Quaker."
"You're a good boy, Bradley," she replied, patting my hand. "Don't let anyone tell you differently."
I just blushed, murmured a thank you, and went back to digging while Mrs. Quaker prattled on about her life before retirement. Several other inhabitants of the house soon joined her on the porch and they were quickly distracted by each other, leaving me to my shovel and rosebushes. I listened as I worked, finding myself drawn into their stories, captivated.
Not for the first time, I wondered if it might possible that I was supposed to be born sometime in the past.
I'd just finished with the sixth bush and was about to dig the seventh hole, when I heard a shocked and pain-filled yell from around the other side of the big house. Several lights in the house suddenly turned off.
I was frozen for a second, but when I didn't hear anything else, I dropped my shovel and hurried over to the corner. The elderly folks sitting on the porch leaned out over the railing as I passed.
At first, I didn't see anyone, but then I noticed the open electricity box. I felt my stomach sink when I saw Jerry lying on the ground beneath it.
"Mr. Coulter?!" I called loudly, slipping on the wet grass in my haste to get to him. "Are you ok?"
Jerry was struggling to rise, grumbling under his breath. His hands were ugly shades of red and black. "Where'd that girl go?" he suddenly asked, turning his head this way and that. "She pushed me into the mud…"
"It's just me, Mr. Coulter," I explained. "What happened to your hands?" I asked, unsure if I should try helping him up or if I should make sure he didn't move. I remembered from some of my health classes that moving a victim could potentially damage them more than it would help them.
"I just got the damn circuits crossed," he growled, finally rising to his elbow. "I'm fine! I'm still breathing, aren't I?"
The fact that he was breathing meant little to me right now. I had no idea what electric shocks did to the human body; all I knew for sure was that Jerry needed medical expertise.
An ambulance arrived barely two minutes after one of the other caregivers called for it and Jerry was loaded into the back, grumbling and cursing. The EMT said he was acting fine, but that they needed him at the hospital for the doctor's opinion.
After I had cleaned up the rosebush mess and called an electrician to fix the house, I went straight to the hospital. It took me twenty minutes to walk all the way, but at least it stopped raining long enough for me to get there.
Jerry might not appreciate my visit, being the way he was, but I felt responsible for the old man. I might not have known how to help him with the electricity, but I could've been there to ask what color of wire he needed or what switch he wanted to pull. I would've disguised it as a lesson that he could teach me, to spare his embarrassment.
I went to the receptionist's desk, saying, "Hi. There was a man just brought in for electrical shock. Jerry Coulter. I was just wondering what was happening with him."
The receptionist in scrubs looked through her computer and said, "I'm sorry, the doctor hasn't been able to see him yet. But judging by that alone, I'm sure he's not in terrible danger. Would you like to see him?"
I hesitated, "Am I allowed to?" In a Phoenix hospital, there was no way I'd be able to visit a non-family member before the doctor discharged them to Recovery.
"It shows here that all his family is in Detroit," the receptionist said. "They've been notified, but it could be days before they get here. I'm sure he'd be glad to have someone."
I was pretty sure he'd tell me to go home as soon as he saw me, but I decided to take the receptionist's offer, saying, "Sure. I'd like to see him."
The receptionist smiled and got up to lead me to Jerry's room, but someone from behind me spoke up.
"I can take him, Rachel," the clear, musical voice said.
I turned to see who it was who'd talked, and froze. It was one of Elise Cullen's incredibly handsome brothers, the shorter one who'd been 'protecting' her in the hallway last week.
He wasn't looking at me, smiling at Rachel, the receptionist, politely. "I was talking to my mom just before she went to Jerry Coulter's room. I know where to find it."
"Thank you," Rachel said vaguely, staring. Who could blame her? The fluorescent lighting made his pale skin glow, his spiky black hair reflecting the light as if it were obsidian. Not to mention he had one of those smooth voices, not exactly deep but powerful, definitely masculine. Poor ladies just didn't stand a chance.
"No problem," Elise's brother said cheerfully, his voice soft.
He turned to me then, saying, "I'm Alex. Alex Cullen." He didn't move to shake my hand.
"Brennan Swan," I said, though I was fairly certain he already knew my name. Everyone in this town had known it before I even came here. I'll bet Carly was telling everyone about the move for months.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Brennan," Alex said, smiling brightly. "The room's this way." He gestured to a hallway on the left and began walking, me trailing behind him.
"Elise told me your dad is a talent scout for a recording label," Alex said, pulling a sleek phone out of his pocket and glancing at the screen. "I bet you grew up around a lot of music."
I nodded, "Yeah, I did."
"So what's your favorite genre?" he suddenly asked me, genuinely curious.
I was a little caught off guard by the abruptness of the question, but answered as best as I could, "Uh… I grew up around old rock and Indie stuff. But… you know, I kind of like the old jazz singers too, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, that kind of stuff."
"You have good taste, Brennan," Alex's eyes seemed to glow. They were the same color as his sister's.
Uncomfortable, I stayed silent and followed the strange angel-faced brother-of-Elise's through the hospital. I'd never been good at graciously accepting compliments; there was no way I could take one from a Cullen.
Alex's phone suddenly started to ring. He pulled it back out of his pocket and sighed when he looked at the caller-ID. "Elise," he explained. "I'm sorry, but she'd very well kill me if I didn't answer." The way he said that made me think he actually believed what he said. "Jerry's room is just down this hallway, third on the left. I'll see you later, Brennan!" he called cheerily with a bright white smile, and turned, answering his phone as he walked away. I didn't hear him say hello, but it appeared that he was listening.
I'd heard Jesse say that Alex was a little weird, and I didn't dispute that, but I couldn't help feeling there was a meaning behind the madness, to use the phrase. Jesse's feelings toward Alex definitely leaned toward mocking, but Alex had a certain look in his eye that made me think he had secrets.
I suddenly realized that I'd been standing in the hallway alone like an idiot and quickly ducked my head, walking the rest of the way to Jerry's room.
The doctor was standing with her back to me, next to the hospital bed. Jerry was sitting in front of her, staring at her finger while she shined a little flashlight into his eyes.
As I watched, she clicked the flashlight off and stuck it into her lab coat pocket, her straight, platinum blond ponytail swinging, "Alright, Mr. Coulter. I'm sure you'll be fine in the long run, but I want you to be aware that you were extremely lucky this time." Her calm voice was hypnotizing, supple and sweet as honey. Just listening to her, I felt my heart rate ease up a little.
"Oh, I'll be alright, sweetheart," Jerry said, waving his hand. He always called anyone of the female denomination 'sweetheart,' but the way he said it now was almost tender. "Don't know why everybody made such a ruckus. I'll just be getting out of here. Lots to do…"
"Mr. Coulter," the doctor chided softly, putting a gentle hand on his arm to keep him from getting up, "I'm going to insist that you see an optometrist." When Jerry made to argue, she added, "Mr. Coulter, under the law, I can insist that you be forced into retirement if I deem it necessary. I do not want any more accidents like this happening needlessly."
Jerry's lips contorted under his grizzly white beard, but I could see that he wasn't mad.
"If you will promise to me to go see the optometrist down the street, I will discharge you within an hour. Do we have a deal?" the doctor asked kindly, and I could tell Jerry would cave. The old man was such a big teddy bear. Not to mention a workaholic.
As expected, Jerry nodded, moving to lie down in his bed again and his doctor began writing something on a clipboard, turning around.
I almost gasped at the sight of her. She was stunning. Literally. So beautiful it was just unfair.
Then I made the connection in my head.
Dr. Cullen looked at me, smiling in a relaxed way, "Hello. Are you here to see Mr. Coulter?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I work with him. I was there when the accident happened. Sort of." My reaction time for the Cullen family's effect was getting better.
"What are you doing here, Brennan?" Jerry asked indignantly. "You should be getting home. Storm's a brewing. Don't want to be caught in a snow storm, do you?"
"I just wanted to check on you, Mr. Coulter," I said. "But now that I see you're ok, I'll just get out of here. Do you want me to call Pam for you?"
"I can call her myself, boy," Mr. Coulter answered gruffly. "Go on, get outta here. The snow's gonna be here soon."
"Alright. See you tomorrow, Mr. Coulter," I said, turning around and walking right back out the way I came.
Dr. Cullen was right behind me, "It's very nice of you to come see him."
I shrugged, "Not really a big deal. He's really going to be fine?"
"Yes, he should be," Dr. Cullen nodded. "Miraculously, his heart and lungs weren't affected by the shock. The worst damage done was the burns on his hands. He's lucky that he hadn't been in contact with the wires for very long."
I suddenly remembered Jerry lying on the ground, looking around him and muttering about a girl… "Wouldn't anyone be hurt if they touched him when he was still connected to the house? Because of the electrical current?" I asked.
Dr. Cullen's eyes tensed, "Did Mr. Coulter tell you something he didn't tell us?"
"It's just uh… when I found him, he said a girl pushed him to the ground," I answered. "I didn't see anyone, though."
Dr. Cullen's eyes suddenly relaxed again, and she smiled, "The brain is a hive of electrical activity. It is entirely possible that an electrical shock could mix up signals and sometimes cause hallucinations. Mr. Coulter's MRI showed no real signs of trauma to his brain, so my guess is that the shock threw him back and some kind of memory was triggered. Mr. Coulter should be just fine with a little rest."
I got the feeling Dr. Cullen was hiding something, but couldn't find any reason for her to lie about Jerry's accident. Why would she?
"Who are your parents?" Dr. Cullen suddenly asked. "You look so familiar…"
I felt my face start to burn, "My mom's the D.A. Carly Thompson."
"Ah yes," Dr. Cullen said fondly. "You have the same brown eyes. Isn't your name Brennan? Brennan Swan?"
I nodded shyly. "How'd you know?"
"I talk to your mother every once in a while," Dr. Cullen said, shrugging. "Usually about the medical evidence of one case or another."
Figures. "Sounds like my mom," I said, stuffing my hands in my jacket pockets.
Dr. Cullen laughed lightly, making me feel a little dizzy, "Be sure to tell her I said hello."
"I will," I said vaguely as she said farewell and walked away.
On my way home, my head was full of the Cullen family and their knack for being where I was. I was fairly certain that I wasn't being stalked, but I couldn't rule it out just yet.
Carly was pulling into the driveway just as I was turning the corner. Surprisingly, she was trying to grab groceries out of the back of her car when I reached the lawn. I couldn't remember the last time my mom when grocery shopping.
"What's the occasion?" I asked, coming up behind her and stealing most of the bags out of her arms.
After her initial shock of my appearance, Carly chuckled, "No occasion. I just thought it might be nice to have dinner at home every once in a while."
"Hmm," I nodded, trying not to be worried about what my mother might have in store in the way of meals.
I was pleasantly surprised; my mom isn't that bad of a cook, just exactly what you'd expected from any working mom.
While I was getting seconds of the casserole she'd somehow concocted out of tater-tots and condensed mushroom soup, Carly asked, "So, how was your day today? What did you do at work?"
I'd kind of been hoping she wouldn't ask. My tendency to blush made me a terrible liar.
"Jerry had to go to the hospital," I said quietly as I sat back down.
Carly's wide eyes greeted me over her ever-present coffee cup. "What happened?" Her voice was tensed the way only a mother's voice could be.
"He was trying to fix an electrical problem and got shocked," I hurried. "I wasn't around when it happened. But he's going to be fine."
"Well, I guess that's something," Carly said. "But really, Brennan, should you be…"
I interrupted her, "Jerry knows what he's doing, Mom. It's just his eyesight. Besides, Dr. Cullen is making him get glasses so this doesn't happen again."
That seemed to alleviate some of the worry, but there was still a wrinkle between her eyebrows that I didn't like seeing.
I changed the subject. "Dr. Cullen told me to say hi for her. She seems really nice."
The wrinkle vanished and Carly smiled, "Carol's been invaluable in the past. A wonderful woman."
I hesitated, wanting to know more but not wanting to seem prying, "I've met some of her kids. They aren't very… popular at school."
Carly suddenly looked frustrated, upset even. "People in this town. They all feel a sense of entitlement, just because they all grew up here." She stood up, refilling her coffee mug. "Dr. Cullen is the best doctor this town could hope for. She doesn't have to work here; a doctor with her qualifications and talent would be welcomed anywhere she applied. If anyone has a problem with her or her family, they can just keep it to themselves."
This was the longest speech I'd ever heard Carly make outside of the courtroom. I wondered what had happened to make her feel so strongly about the Cullens.
"So they didn't grow up here?" I asked.
"No. They moved down from Alaska about two years ago," Carly answered. "I'm not sure why, but I'm sure it wasn't anything illegal, like some people have had the gall to say. Honestly…" she muttered, shaking her head as she walked into her office.
I watched her go silently, mulling everything over.
The Cullens were intriguing.
This was the only thing I was certain of as I stood brushing my teeth that night. Their inhumanly good looks. Their alienation from the rest of the town. Elise's strange reaction to me in Biology. Alex's peculiar conversation-starter at the hospital. Dr. Cullen's perceived secret about Jerry's accident. I didn't have answers for anything.
But I had questions. And if I was nice enough, Elise might just answer some of them.
