Chapter Three
Relationships

In the morning, I was on facebook checking for messages from Belle. But I knew if she wanted to message me, she'd probably just text me. Just before we were about to leave for school, Belle texted me saying that her truck wouldn't start and her dad had already left so she wouldn't be at school. I replied asking her if she wanted a lift. She said yes and gave me her address, I told her I'll there in ten minutes. I told the others to go in Rosalie or Emmett's car. Rose wanted to drive her BMW M3 Convertible to school as she barely got to drive it. We tried to be inconspicuous. We both left at the same time. I drove into Belle's driveway and honked the horn. She peaked out the window from behind the curtain and quickly ran out of the house.

When she got into the car she smiled at me.
"Thanks so much for giving me a lift. I hope it wasn't too much of a hassle," she said.
"Don't worry about it," I said as I returned her smile. The drive to school was filled with mindless small talk about the whether and my cars exterior. When I parked the car and cut the engine she looked at me.
"Well that was…" she couldn't think of the right word.
"Fast?" I offered. She giggled and nodded. Then she paused.
"Did you get contacts?" she asked. Her question took me off guard. I hadn't thought of that. I had hunted recently, so my eyes would've been golden instead of black, which they were when we met. I thought about my answer carefully.
"No," I said warily. I searched my mind for an excuse for the reason behind my eyes changing colour.
"Hmm," she said to my surprise. She was very observant, but not persistent. A pair of traits I'd never seen someone who had one, but not the other. Usually, if someone was observant, they were persistent aswell to get answers to things they observed. And also, if people were persistent, they were also observant to notice the things they'd be persistent about. Belle was very odd, she wasn't an average human.

The rest of the hour was very boring. Mr. Banner started another long lecture that lasted the rest of the class. Belle and I would smile at each other every now and then, but she listened to the speech every now and then. I was guessing it was all new to her, but it was her first year as a junior. As opposed to this being my seventy-fifth. When class ended I thought about saying something as she stood up.
"So would you like me to drop you home this afternoon? Or would you like to walk?" I added the last part because I didn't want to make her think she had to let me drop her off. As much as I wanted to hang out with her, her safety was at risk every time I did. This was also not a good thing.
"Sure," she smiled. We walked out of the room in silence and she waved as we went our separate ways to our next class.

That afternoon I waited by my car for Belle. I saw Mike walk out of the gym building so I knew she'd be out soon. When she walked out she smiled and got into the passenger seat. The way home, Belle was telling me a story about something that happened in gym. She was quite a good storyteller. She made sure she included all the funny and interesting bits, and not to have to much boring nonsense. The story was quite long, although it was interesting. I'd have to listen in tomorrow to see if anything funny happened then. The story took up the whole ride home, and we even sat in the car outside her house for another ten minutes as she quickly finished up the story.
"I'd invite you in, but I have homework and stuff to do," she said.
"That's okay," I said truthfully. But that made me realize that I wanted to come inside. But it was too dangerous.

The afternoon was very boring and uneventful. At around four, Belle called and we chatted for half an hour. She had to go because someone was calling her. After that, I went on facebook. A few more kids from school had added me as a friend, I accepted them. Alice was happy that everyone she had added accepted her. She had a couple hundred friends, I only had fifteen. Alice was enjoying living in Forks. This was the only time we had a social life. Alice was so happy she was planning on throwing a party sometime this year. She called Belle about it, even though it'd probably be months away. Alice and Belle were on the phone for a while until Belle had to go out.

The next morning at school I walked to my class. As I tuned out the voices in my head, I recognized one as Mike Newton's and froze. He was thinking about his date with Belle last night. So she wasn't just going out, she was going on a date. Belle was on a date with Mike Newton. I couldn't believe this! How could she? How could he? I wish I could read her thoughts. I wish I could know how much she likes him. But we were getting along great. Maybe she was just very outgoing and treats all the boys that way. Well, all except Mike of course. Then I saw Mike and Belle together as I rounded the next corner. They were sitting next to each other. She was leaning into him laughing. I was jealous of Mike. I'd never been jealous of anyone in my life. I mean, I guess this was better for her. She deserved to be with someone human. Not a vampire who could kill her easily. This was good for her. I would just have to suck it up and deal with it. I walked away before anyone noticed my staring. I was miserable that morning. Alice was the only one who knew why. She had a vision Belle kissing Mike on the cheek and running of to class before she was late this morning just as I saw it for myself. So not only did they go on a date, they were dating. Suck it up and deal with it, I told myself. That was the only way to get through this.

At lunch, Rosalie was glad I wasn't staring at Bella. She thought I'd completely moved on and barely noticed my being upset because she was so happy with that fact. In biology, I was seated before anyone was even in the room. There was some fight happening outside that everyone was crowding around. I ran my hand through my messy, bronze hair and sat there. I started fiddling with my pen, practicing self control. I tried to squeeze it as hard as I could without breaking it. It was difficult. There were a few dents in it, but I got it. And eventually it was easy. I was still doing that when the students started coming inside. Then Belle walked in holding Mike's hand. I almost hissed. But then I remembered, suck it up and deal with it, and I was right. Mike was better for her than me, as much as I disliked it. At least he was human. But I was a vampire, I reminded myself. Mike sat next to his lab partner and Belle walked up to our desk.
"Hey," she said as she sat down.
"Hi," I breathed. Then I sighed, remembering what I saw this morning.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Her voice was full of nothing but concern.
"I'm fine, it's nothing important." I said dismissively. Didn't she realize what was wrong? But then I realized she didn't know that I knew they she was dating Mike. So I made myself look happier.
"You sure?" she asked, still worried. I looked at her.
"Belle, don't worry about it. It's okay," I replied. She smiled.

Class wasn't gonna start for another five minutes by the looks of it. Mr. Banner was the one breaking up the fight.
"So guess what?" She asked excitedly. I new was she was going to say.
"What?" I replied. I tried to feign enthusiasm, I hope she was fooled.
"Last night Mike asked me out and he took me out on a date!" She whispered excitedly. I wondered why she whispered. It was probably because if she didn't, she wouldn't be able to control herself and she'd shout it out to the entire class.
"Wow! That's amazing. Congratulations," I said. She grinned.
"Thanks," she replied. I tried to make our conversation a little more casual and playful so she wouldn't notice my sadness.
"So since when do you have a crush on Mike Newton?" I asked teasingly.
"Well I'm not really sure I did before. When he called, I wasn't sure if I should go. But I thought why not and said yes. It was really nice. He took me to that little Italian restaurant in Port Angeles. It was wonderful," she gushed out. Then I realized that she didn't like Mike before, that she wasn't even sure she should accept his offer. And that she didn't have feelings for me because to her, I was her best friend. That's why she was telling me about her date. Well it's better than nothing, a little voice in my head said. "That sounds so romantic," I smiled.

Then she launched into a full on in depth recount of everything that happened. She continued with it after class. I walked her to her next class where she finished her story.
"See you later," she smiled as she walked into the room.
"Yeah," I said a second too late. I walked to my next class.