Chapter Four

Step Six: Invade Her Dreams

She had a dream of an unidentified person walking away from her. Hmm—might as well be me. Behold, Edward! The Night Stalker! Also, make sure that in this dream she can never catch her now-identified object of wanting—me. The dream woke her in the middle of the night, and kept her awake for a while. I started doing this every night. I needed her to become obsessed with me. I could do it more easily through dreams, especially when the person in question is superstitious about dreams having meaning. I didn't know if Bella was, but it couldn't hurt to try.

Step Seven: Back Off, then Pounce!

Give her room. Avoid her as much as possible when she's awake, be totally indifferent, for awhile. I didn't know how the hell this was supposed to help, but Carlisle had been right so far, so I went with it. Her musings over this made me laugh. Her conclusion was that I wished the van had killed her! Ahahaha! That kills me! She tried saying 'hi' to me in Biology once, but after the cool attitude I gave her, she tried to ignore me as well.

A couple days later Mike came to her desk, insinuating that he was hoping she would ask him to the dance, and she turned him down flat. That made my day. Maybe this step would work after all. Then she did something totally unexpected. She told Mike she was going to Seattle that weekend. I looked intently at her. She pulls a big trip out of town from left field just to avoid a dance? How warped is this girl? I think I like it.

I decided to talk to her near the end of class again. "Bella?"

"What do you want, Edward?"

"Sorry for being so rude, but we really should stay away from each other."

"What?"

"Just sayin', it's better if we weren't friends." I said flippantly.

"Well, you should have thought of that earlier. You could have saved yourself all this regret."

"Regret? For what?"

"For saving me from that stupid van, of course!"

I was stunned. "You think I regret saving your life?"

"I know you do!"

Whoa. When Bella goes to extremes, she really finds the extremes. Her death is the last thing I want right now.

She turned and picked up her books. I'm sure she intended to stomp out in a huff, but she tripped gracelessly on her way out the door. Dissolving into laughter was not the best thing to do right now, so I fought it down and helped her with her books. Can't let her forget about me, after all.

Just to add further insult to injury, I went to intercept her at the truck before she could leave for the day. I found her turning down Eric for the dance, as well. She was trying to be "diplomatic." I guess diplomacy means lying a lot. I couldn't help chuckling as he walked away. Bella heard me, and she angrily got in her car.

I moved to intercept her with the Volvo. Ah-ah-ahh, Bella, road rage never does anybody any good. I'm in high school, I'm allowed to be immature. I waited for my family, deliberately holding up traffic at the same time. Traffic hold-up presented an opportunity for Bella's favorite admirer: Tyler. He got out of his car and walked up to Bella's window. I could see that this just aggravated her more. It was very gratifying. I could hear bits and pieces of their conversation. Tyler was asking her to ask him to the spring dance! Oh, this was entertaining! He's an opportunist, I'll give him that. Bella couldn't go anywhere, a true captive audience. She told him twice that she would be out of town that night (makes me wonder if she really will leave, just to complete the illusion). When he realized she was serious, he indicated that he still held out hope for having her as a prom date.

Oh, that pissed her off so much! The look on her face was priceless! Her eyes briefly widened, her nostrils flared, and she stared very hard at my smiling face. Her thoughts were painted clearly on her face.

I think it's a good thing my siblings arrived just then, because I really think she would have rammed that monster of a truck into the rear of our car, and I do not want to try and explain that to Carlisle. He might make me pay for it, and not with money…

Just to keep me in the front of her mind, I crept up to her again the next morning in the parking lot before school. I noticed that she parked as far away from the Volvo as she could, as if that would help. When I suddenly appeared in front of her, she jumped, startled.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?" I smiled.

"Appear out of thin air like that."

I shrugged, all innocence. "Bella, it's not my fault if you are exceptionally unobservant." I carefully enunciated the last two words, baiting her.

She scowled and appeared to lose track of her thoughts, and changed the subject.

"Why the traffic jam last night? I thought you were supposed to be pretending I don't exist, not irritating me to death."

What a sarcastic bitch. Still, one good turn…

"That was for Tyler's sake, not mine. I had to give him his chance." I was slowly failing to hold back my laughter.

"You…" Bella sputtered, obviously unable to come up with the proper word for how annoying and despicable she found me at that moment. I thought about offering some suggestions, but that would probably cause her to leave prematurely, and I didn't want that to happen. I continued.

"And I'm not pretending you don't exist,-"

"So you are trying to irritate me to death? Since Tyler's van didn't do the job?"

Wow, Bella, it must be nice to have the world revolve around you. Melodramatic, much? Now she was irritating me. I was glaring at her now, but I no longer cared.

"Bella, you are utterly absurd."

She clenched her fists. I think she actually thought of hitting me. You'd think I had just grievously insulted her mother, the way she reacted. She abruptly turned her back on me and began walking away. Turned her back. On me. The nerve of that girl. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. Violence at this point would definitely be counter-productive. When I had my self-control back, I hurried after her. When I caught up to her, I apologized, turning on the charm.

"I'm sorry, that was rude." No response. So I tried another tack. "I'm not saying it isn't true, but it was rude to say it, anyway."

"Why won't you leave me alone?"

"I wanted to ask you something, but you sidetracked me." An idea had struck me.

"Fine then. What do you want to ask?"

I spoke slowly, deliberately drawing out my words, leading her to the wrong conclusion. "I was wondering if, a week from Saturday—you know, the day of the spring dance—"

She whirled, facing me. "Are you trying to be funny?"

I smiled, ever-so-polite, taunting her. "Will you please allow me to finish?" She clasped her hands in front of her (to prevent losing control?) "I heard you were going to Seattle that day, and I was wondering if you wanted a ride."

She looked at me as if I'd just spoken a foreign language. "What?"

Was she hard of hearing? "Do you want a ride to Seattle?"

"With who?" She seemed genuinely perplexed. It seems I've picked myself a real winner, here. Why am I doing this again? Oh well, it's not like I have anything better to do right now. Speak slowly, Edward, the girl's a little slow. "Me, obviously."

"Why?"

If there wasn't so much at stake I would have smacked my forehead with my palm. Does she always ask so many questions? Come on Edward, give a plausible reason, don't screw this up. "Well, I was planning to go to Seattle in the next few weeks, and, to be honest, I'm not sure if your truck can make it." That last part was true, it was something of a rattle-trap.

"My truck works just fine, thank you very much for your concern." Her words were clipped, but had lost some of their vehemence.

I intercepted her again, facing her. "But can your truck make it there on one tank of gas?"

She stopped. "Honestly, Edward. I can't keep up with you. I thought you didn't want to be my friend."

"I said it would be better if we weren't, not that I didn't want to be." I don't, but that's really beside the point.

"Oh, thanks, now that's all cleared up." There's that heavy sarcasm again. Sheesh, can she speak to anyone without being condescending? I haven't seen it yet.

I reiterated, "It would be more…prudent for you not to be my friend. But I'm tired of trying to stay away from you, Bella." That last part was true. And teens hate being prudent, I've noticed.

"Will you go with me to Seattle?" I asked again. I really didn't want to lose this one, so I nailed her with my mesmerizing "dazzle stare" until she nodded assent. It really was unfair of me, but I don't really do "fair." It's not in my nature.

I turned away with a parting shot, "You really should stay away from me. I'll see you in class," and walked away.