Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

I wake in a cold sweat with my alarm blaring that stupid 'Bella' alarm that Jacob had recorded and set for me the first night that he stayed over. We never went farther than kissing and hoping and in hindsight, maybe that was for the best. Jacob used to do all these cute little things for me that would always make my day.

Oh, Jacob….

The thought of him puts me down.

While my mind is in the process of waking up, my ears become tuned to the sound of the rain pattering against my window and the roof. It is a calming sound that I have come to appreciate over the years as I have lived in Forks for all of my life.

My eyes adjust to the darkness around me and I reluctantly haul myself out of my cozy bed. I make my way to the bathroom with my trusty toothbrush and hair comb. After I finish up my morning routine, I head back to my room to make my bed and put my clothes on for school. I grab some Picasso-style black and white leggings, a long-sleeved gray Old Navy sweatshirt, and grey flats.

The drive is easy in my old, old truck with my creepy sister, Jane, staring forward. She has in colored contacts that make her irises look as if they are blood red. She is dressed head to toe in black and has even donned a cape with a hood. The creepiest part was that she was looking straight out the window, never blinking, the whole time. Talk about terrifying.

As I get out of my truck, I see guards posted outside in the yard before the school's entrance, guarding and keeping the teenagers docile at school. This is not unusual, but something seems just a little bit off today and raises the hairs on the back of my neck. The guards' eyes scan the crowd in front of us and lock on Jane as we head for the front doors and they both take a cautionary step back. I guess I'm not the only one who finds her frightening.

On either side of the main entrance to the building is a guard decked in a suit and tie with a belt that holds their equipment. They remind me of the guys that chased me down the night I met the prince. Of course, I already realized that the men were not clones, but my superstition still lingers. Now that I think about it, it's weird how the royal family apparently likes to have carbon copies of one single person to guard them. I imagine them calling every 'clone' Joe and them having to find a specific Joe, but they all look alike so the can't find him. I giggle at the thought and keep moving through the hallways.

The day goes by as usual: I have some classes, meet up with Angela and Jessica, get mad at Lauren, then go home. This is how it goes by for about a few weeks. The doors of the palace have been overflowing with teenage (and even older) girls who want to be Prince Edward's patch. If you can't guess….I was not one of them.

The news has been on constant watch on his royal highness. Prince Edward's strength and health is declining rapidly, just like mine. I haven't gotten a good night's rest in two weeks, my brain power is even lower than usual, and my physical energy is at an all time low. I can't imagine him being in any better shape than I am. I'm afraid that if this goes on much longer then we'll both be beyond saving.

Is it worth it to give up and accept the patch, or will we both be better off dying from withstanding the overwhelming power?

Little did I know that my answer would be decided for me the day after that wretched little thought popped into my head.. I had been at school and the population of teenagers had chosen to ignore the lessons that the teachers were giving, and instead they all got on their phones and found out that the prince was on the move. He had left the palace early this morning, probably in search of his patch who would take all chances to avoid him.

In hindsight, I really should have noticed the large amount of soldiers outside the school. But not getting the sleep that I have so desperately needed had exponentially weakened my senses enough that I apparently couldn't use my common sense. I had parked beside a huge black SUV which really should have given it away but Jane had distracted me by chuckling darkly and whispering frighteningly dark phrases.

Now as I walk into the cafeteria, I see a table totally surrounded by men and women in dark suits. Well technically, I don't see the table because all of the bodies are so close together that they build a human wall. I "took a wild guess" and assumed that the prince was in there. I don't know how he found me and I don't really care to find out, so I try to walk out of the cafeteria the way I came in, but there is a sea of bodies blocking my way. The guards must know what I look like because as soon as they spot me, they came onto me like moths to a flame. I can't believe that were even able to find me at all!

Prince Edward sees the commotion around me and weaves his way between the guards yelling, "Stand down!" I am panicking internally, but stay still as the cafeteria quietens immediately. The prince keeps moving toward me. I at least have enough sense to curtsy, but he immediately pulls me out of my curtsy.

"An angel shall never bow to an unworthy man." He doesn't quite hold my hand as he must know I would fight, so he instead takes my wrist and slowly maneuvers us to the table he was originally sitting at. The lunch room eventually starts to talk again but at much lower tones, no doubt gossiping about the girl who Prince Edward Cullen had just escorted to his table.

"What is your name, angel?" His voice is like the sweetest honey and flows smoothly out of his mouth as if he had been practicing that line for weeks. Maybe he had been doing just that.

"Isabella Marie Swan, but my friends call me Bella. Call me Isabella," I say moodily.

Just because he is my patch, and I his, doesn't mean that I have to like him. His small smile that had appeared for a moment was wiped right off his face at my statement and it makes me feel a little bad for being mean, but I will not take it back. His face soon regains that crooked smile and I divert my eyes to his messy, bronze hair.

"Hello….Isabella. My name is Prince Edward Anthony Cullen, but my friends call me Edward. Please, call me Edward."

He tries to ease some of the tension between us with a grin and holds out his hand. My mother had always raised me as a lady, so I take his hand expecting to shake it, but he brings my hand to his lips and lightly kisses my knuckles.

I didn't know that you could almost faint from a kiss….to the knuckles! I await for him to give me my hand back, but he instead holds onto it and lays our joined palms on the lunch table in between us. I will my body to take my hand back, but it doesn't listen and I give up.

"Isabella, why did you not come to the palace to help me find you?" Surprisingly, guilt rises in my stomach. I squish it down without a second thought.

"I didn't want you to find me, Prince Edward. I've never liked patching and have never wanted it to happen to me." Edward's hand twitches a little bit.

"Love, you may call me Edward. Without the prince part." His eyes soften and the sides of his mouth lifts up.

"No thank you, Prince Edward. That would make me a bad subject of yours." My sardonic smile throws him off a bit. We shouldn't become anything other than formal, even with our names, or else he might assume that we are becoming friends.

He tries to think of something that we won't argue on.

"What is your favorite color?" he asks suddenly.

"Green." I immediately blurt out, but then instantly cover my mouth with my hands. My answer makes him smile and that makes the butterflies in my stomach take flight. My favorite color used to be brown, but I guess that that changed recently….

Edward then asks the question I was really hoping that he wouldn't.

"Why?"

His toothy smile could light up a room, make a blind man see, and set a whole town on fire from its beauty all at the same time! I take the time to contemplate his looks. There are dark bags under his eyes and his face is clear and unusually pale, but then again, so is mine. His large nose is aquiline and his eyes are an attractive, emerald green that captures the attention of every lucky person his gaze lands on. His eyelashes and eyebrows seriously make me jealous of his genetics. His messy, bronze hair is sticking out every way imaginable, but I do not think that he could have tamed that beast with the strongest hair products money could possible buy.

"Isabella, Isabella? Are you in there?" Edward playfully mocks my face as I had zoned off.

I can't help but laugh at his expression, however I remember too late to cover it up as a cough. Edward obviously catches my mistake and his wide mouth grins. I set my face to a clean slate and resolve to keep it that way, though I am glad my mistake got me out of answering his last question.

"I never moved, I'm right here. What is your favorite color?" I try to be polite seeing as how he is a prince and could make my life miserable with the snap of his fingers. Oh man, I really should have remembered that before the conversation even started!

He answers almost before the question is out of my mouth. "Brown. Specifically, the color of your hair," he says honestly. He unwinds his jaw to say something more, but he is interrupted by the obnoxious lunch bell.

"I will see you after school, Isabella. We will give your sister a ride home as well." There is no room for argument as he walks me to my next class, a troop of our own personal escorts follow behind us in their regal suits. Edward kisses my knuckles once more as we part and I get ready for the last two lessons of the day.

As I walk out of the doors from gym class, the last class of the day, with some new bruises on my arms and legs, I'm almost instantly surrounded by guards which makes me jump out of my own skin. I yelp loudly and I assume that our beloved Prince Edward had heard since he runs straight through the corps of clones to me. His hands go to hold my face, but I step out of his range. He settles to look me over at a distance for any damage. I humph, irritated that he thinks that I could not defend myself if I were to be put in danger, but Edward just chuckles and jogs to catch up with me, his aroma following suit.

"So how were your last classes today? Gym sure sounds like a fun time." He cannot be serious.

"It was a blast," I say, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

Prince Edward's laugh is like music Debussy, and I could listen to it for days. His low voice makes his booming laugh fall effortlessly from his mouth and I find myself wanting to hear more.

Woah, where did that thought come from?

I kick the unwanted thought from my brain and we walk the rest of the way to his car in silence. Edward helps me into the passenger seat of the SUV and closes the door on me before he goes around and climbs in on his side, putting the key in the ignition.

"Can I take you somewhere?" Edward says. We pull out of the parking lot, SUVs both in front and behind us. This is not conspicuous at all. Definitely nobody important in the four car chain of black SUVs all driving to the same destination at the same speed.

"Please, just take me home," I plead. He suddenly turns serious and sends me a disappointed look.

"I am trying to make this patch work. I have always looked forward to patching, you know, finding the love of my life. Why can't you just try and work with me here, Isabella? I know that you don't like the situation, as you have made sure to remind me of that at every turn so far, but right now I wonder if you can outgrow this childishness, or if you will always be this hard headed even though you know that this will hurt you and me if you keep going in this direction." He frowns as he looks back and forth between the road and me.

My face flames from both embarrassment and anger at how little he just made me feel with that speech. He put me below him and made himself the superior of the two of us. I am just about ready to really blow my cap. Edward sighs and continues before I can start to berate him.

"I am sorry, that was uncalled for. I am just trying to understand how you can just reject the thought of us so easily." I have to admit, it is getting very hard for me to be mad at him. When he apologizes, he sounds so sincere and adorable. No wait, NOT ADORABLE.

"Take me home," I say both sternly and softly so that he knows that I mean business and that I also accept his apology without saying the actual words.

The SUV makes some sharp turns here and there, and in a matter of minutes, we are pulling up into the driveway of my house. I don't ask how he knows where I live; I'm afraid I might not like the answer I'd get if I could muster up the courage to ask. Edward helps me out of the car once more and walks me to my front door.

"May I pick you up tomorrow for school and then take you somewhere special afterwards, Isabella?" Edward oozes excitement and hope at the idea that I might say yes now that we are on slightly better terms. I can't help but give in to this simple happiness of his.

We say our goodbyes and he drives off with his guard. Dealing with Edward was easy enough, but now I must face the real problem; the beast that lays in wait behind the front door of my house. My mother, Renee Swan.


Hopefully everybody saw the announcement I only had up for less than 24 hours, but it said that his story is under construction. I am going through all the chapters and fixing all the many problems. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I can't have a story up that looks like shit, I'm a better writer than that. Hope everybody likes that changes I'm making.

Review, please!