It had been three days since Edward's episode, and he hasn't come back to school. Everyday she would glance at the Cullen's lunch table only to find him missing. No one seemed to overly concerned with the fact he was gone. One day she had asked Angela if this was normal for him, but she had only shrugged and said,
"Maybe he's sick. I heard he had some kind of freak out Monday in class."
Bella frowned. "Yeah, I was there."
She felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle. Bella glanced over at the Cullen table to find them all staring at her. Even from across the room she could see that Rosalie was glaring at her while the rest of of them were frowning. It was as if they had heard her asking questions about their brother. Bella quickly turned away and laid her head on her arms. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were blaming her for their brother's absence. She has been fighting with a voice in the back of her head that said she truly was the reason that he disappeared. She felt sick just thinking about the look in Edward's eyes as he watched her. She just wanted to know why. She didn't understand how someone could hate a person before they had even met them. Or how they could skip a week off school because of it. Bella sighed and rubbed her eyes triedly. She hated feeling like this.
Bella tried to forget Edward and focus on adjusting to life in Forks. For the first time since the seventh grade, Bella had people who wanted to spend time with her outside of school. It was a surreal feeling. Jessica had already invited her and Angela to have a girls night that weekend. Bella had turned in down, giving some half hearted excuse about spending some time with her dad. She wasn't sure if she could spend more than twelve hours in their presence without making a fool of herself.
"Edward Cullen is back," Jessica commented the next Monday at lunch.
Bella jerked up as if she'd been electrocuted. She glanced at the Cullen table to find him staring at her. Bella flushed and turned around. So he was back. This was a good thing. At least that's what Bella tried to tell herself. That meant he was no longer sick and had no excuses to act so hateful towards her no matter how horrible of a day he was having. However, her insides twisted just thinking about facing him next period. Maybe she could skip class today. It wouldn't exactly be a lie if she left saying she felt sick. Bella jumped as Angela laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay? You don't look so good."
Bella tried to smile at her. It came out more of a grimace. "I'm fine. I'm just feeling kinda sick actually."
Angela's brow furled and she patted Bella gently on the back. She couldn't help but tense at her actions. There was a part of her that was grateful for Angela's concern, but she was too wound up about Edward to really appreciate it. Booming laughter echoed throughout the cafeteria causing the whole table to turn to find the source. Alice and Rosalie were leaning away from Emmett as he wildly shook his head in attempts to soak them. Bella could see the slush dripping down his face. It seemed even the Cullens were taking part in the school wide snowball fight. Bella watched as Edward's body shook with laughter. Even Jasper sported a smile. She couldn't help but be enthralled by the scene. She had never seen any of Cullens emote half as much in a week than she did in this moment. From the stunned looks on everyone else's faces, Bella assumed the Cullens never have before.
She turned away and started to slowly sip on her drink. Her leg bouncing as she thought about biology. She rehearsed in her head what she would say to him.
I'm glad you're not sick anymore.
Then she would leave it at that. There was no need to start anything with him and risk him hating her for an actual reason. Bella turned towards Jessica when she started giggling. Jessica leaned in close and whispered into her ear,
"Edward is staring at you."
Bella tensed and fought the urge to look back at him.
"Good for him," she muttered before taking another swig of her drink.
Jessica frowned and glanced between the two of them. Bella could practically hear what she was thinking. She was most likely confused on why Bella wasn't swooning at the thought of him paying any amount of attention to her. Bella didn't care what he did. As long as she kept her head down there would be no need for any confrontation. So she ignored the eyes she could feel burning into the back of her head and the curious glances of Jessica.
As she walked to biology, she could feel her heart crawling into her throat. Bella tugged at the front of her shirt and seriously started to consider ditching. But before she could run, the classroom was in front of her and there sat Edward Cullen in all his pale glory. Bella stiffly sat down in her seat and tried to ignore him. Edward seemed to have other plans.
"Hello, my name is Edward Cullen."
Bella flashed him a tight smile. "Hi."
"I just wanted to say that last week I acted very rudely. You see I wasn't feeling very well and I-"
Bella cut him off. "It doesn't really matter. I'm glad you're feeling better."
He didn't say anything in return. Bella was internally screaming. This wasn't exactly how she planned this conversation. She hadn't meant to cut him off, but Edward sounded so disconnected to what he was saying. Like an actor who couldn't properly convey the right feelings behind his lines. He didn't truly mean what he was saying and that irritated her to no end. She would rather end the conversation early than listen to him ramble out some half-ass apology. Unfortunately for her, Mr. Banner announced that they would be doing a lab today and they had to work in pairs
They didn't talk much to each other besides to confirm the answers. They were working quite fast as Bella had done this lab before at her old school. At one point, Mr. Banner walked up to see how they were doing.
"Mr. Cullen isn't doing all the work is he?"
Bella's face scrunched up in disbelief as she stared up at Mr. Banner. What was that supposed to mean?
"I've actually done this lab before in Phoenix. I was in accelerated classes."
Mr. Banner flushed and stumbled over his words. "Th-that's great! It's lucky Mr. Cullen was paired with you then, Ms. Swan."
Bella smiled politely and turned back towards the microscope. Edward starting to laugh quietly which only served to further ruffle her feathers. She gripped her pencil tightly as she wrote down the next answer.
"It's Anaphase."
"Why did you move to Forks?"
Bella frowned and turned towards Edward.
"What?" She asked, not fully comprehending why he was asking the question.
Edward's lips twitched. "Why did you move to Forks?"
Bella stared at him in confusion. She didn't understand why he was talking to her. They had been blissfully ignoring each other the entire time, why ruin that? She wondered how to answer him. It would be too rude of her to say he needed to mind his own business, despite how much she wanted to. He watched her face eagerly to see her reaction. Bella shifted in her seat when she started to realize there was something different about him now compared to last Monday. Something she couldn't place. It was unnerving.
"My mom remarried, and I thought it would be a good idea to spend some time with my dad."
"So did you not like the guy?"
"Why do you assume that?" She demanded, her voice harsher than she intended.
Edward held his hands up in defense. "I'm just trying to figure it all out. I'm curious as to why you would move here."
"Phil is fine. Like I said, I just thought it'd be a good idea to spend some time with my dad so she could travel with him."
Edward nodded, humming to himself as if all the puzzle pieces had fallen together. "You moved here so she could be happy. What about yourself? Are you happy here?"
Bella glared at Edward. What was with the onslaught of personal questions? Anger built inside of her as she snapped at him.
"When did Esme and Dr. Cullen adopt you?"
Edward reeled back. "Excuse me?"
"When did they adopt you? Do you like living with them?"
"That's personal, don't you think?" He asked, his voice low.
Bella almost started laughing at the anger in his voice. The hypocrite.
"Then why do you get to ask me personal questions?"
He froze briefly before turning away from her. If he didn't hate her before, he certainly did now. Not that Bella really cared. She hated double standards. There were a few tense moments of silence. Bella started to bounce her leg once more as she glanced towards the clock. She only had to suffer five more minutes. Bella sighed heavily and ran her fingers through her hair. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. They weren't supposed to speak to each other after the sick comment, let alone start a verbal spar.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried," he said, this time sounding genuine.
When Bella turned to face Edward, she suddenly realized what had seemed so off about him today. His eyes had changed color. Last week she remembered how dark they had been, but now they were lighter. Brighter even. Bella couldn't help but think they look almost golden.
"Your eyes are different today. Did you get contacts or something?"
Edward tensed and jerked his head towards the window. She could see how his jaw grounded together as he gritted out,
"No. It must be the light. They've always been this color."
Bella frowned as she watched him clench his hands together. He was lying. Bella remembered how dark his eyes had been when they first met. She remembered how much hate and disgust swirled around in them as she sat down beside him. So why was he lying? The bell rang and once again Edward was the first out of the classroom. Bella shook her head as she watched him leave. Mike tried to ask what had happened between them, but Bella deflected his questions by asking him if he knew of any places that were hiring. His face brightened as he told her how his family's store was hiring.
"I can set you up an interview and everything," he said, his smile all but blinding her.
"That'd be great. Thanks, Mike."
The rest of the week continued to be tense between her and Edward. They barely spoke unless they needed to. Bella supposed this was the best case scenario considering how hostile it had gotten between them before. This routine continued for another week until Edward offered an olive branch at her locker one day after school.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot."
Bella flushed. That was an understatement. "I think so too."
"I've been thinking, and I shouldn't have been so invasive in your personal life. It was rather ungentlemanly of me. I want us to start over. My name is Edward Cullen."
Bella laughed and said, "I'm Bella Swan. I think we have biology together."
Edward smiled widely causing Bella to as well. "Yes, I believe we do."
They weren't exactly friends after that, but a sort of alliance was built between them. They would ask each other random questions about music or favorite films. There was no more talk about her time in Phoenix or Edward's strange ability to change his eye color. They never asked any personal questions as they both knew it would destroy what fragile ground they had already built. This worked out just fine for Bella. When Edward wasn't in a mood, she found his company actually nice. For once, she started to look forward to going to school as she felt she was starting to make real friends with him and Angela. She felt she was starting to get more and more comfortable in Forks.
It was a nice feeling.