Chapter Four
A half an hour and one bath of pickle juice later, and Bella Swan was finally back at her dorm room. She threw her sodden textbooks down on her bed with an annoyed and ungainly "Hhumph." These textbooks had cost her a fortune, and now they all had the impervious smell of pickle juice wrinkling every page. It was just the perfect way to cap this day at her new school.
Bella unslung her purse and threw it down on her bed beside her books with the same vehemence that they had received.
"Is... this a bad time?" a short brunette asked tentatively from her doorway.
"Oh... sorry. No, now's fine," Bella said, a blush working its way across her face. How many more ways could she embarrass herself in one day?
"Okay, good! I'm Alice, your roommate. Sorry I wasn't here when you moved in earlier," the girl, Alice, explained walking into the room and holding out a tiny hand to Bella.
"Oh. I'm Bella." They shook hands, and an awkward silences sifted down between them. Bella tried to covertly watch her new roommate, who didn't seem to feel ill at ease at all. Alice looked perfectly collected as she began to straighten her closet around. Bella wished that she could adopt some of that easygoing nature.
"So, did the move go well for you?" Alice asked, still a little distracted by her closet, which was apparently too small for all of her clothing.
"Yeah," Bella answered awkwardly. She didn't know what else to say, but at the same time, she knew she had to continue the conversation. "Yeah, it went okay. It actually went a little better than I expected, considering that I had to do it all by myself at in the end."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Bella. I would have been here to help you, but one of my brothers wanted me to help him with something."
"Oh, no, I wasn't talking about you. Originally, my mom was going to help me, but her husband had to go to Florida for his job. And my dad was supposed to drive down here and help, but he had something come up where he lives too, so I had to drive up here myself."
"Drive up here? Where are you from?"
"Phoenix."
"As in, Phoenix, Arizona? What are you doing in Washington State?"
"Well, it's sort of been... pre-arranged since I was little. I don't know, it's sort of weird," Bella said in a rush, clamming up as the conversation turned to the one topic that she couldn't tell anyone about.
"Oh, okay," Alice said, as if that had made sense to her. "So what have you been up to since you got here? I mean, you look pretty settled already."
"Well, I went to get some textbooks from the union center, and these idiotic jerks spilled pickle juice all over them. And me," Bella said angrily, the memory souring the good mood that had been building as she talked to Alice.
"That sounds exactly like something my older brother would do for fun," Alice said, shaking her head. "He's a senior, and he loves to pull pranks on all of the freshman on move-in day. He's not as highly evolved as the rest of us. Don't worry, I'll get a special dispensation from him for you."
"Thanks," Bella said with a laugh. She could already tell that Alice was going to work out perfectly as a roommate. She was so comfortable with herself, and spread that same ease to everyone she came in contact with, even Bella, the most anxious person in the world.
Alice stepped back from her closet, which she had magically expanded to fit her entire wardrobe.
"Actually, I promised my brothers that I would go out to eat with them. Do you want to come with? I swear that they are usually very well-behaved. Well, except for Emmett, but all of his jokes are in good humor, honest."
"That's very sweet, but, um... I promised a friend that I'd meet him in a couple mintues."
"Okay. But don't expect to go long without meeting my family, they are always around."
"Sounds great. Have fun."
"Yep, you too. See you later." Alice grabbed her purse and then flitted out of the room. Turning back to her bed with a dejected sigh, Bella surveyed the damage of her books one last time.
She had told Jacob that she would meet him in a half hour, but she probably had to head out now, considering that she would most likely get lost at least twice. After changing into a shirt that smelled less like pickles, she grabbed her purse and headed out to see Jacob, the boy she barely knew, but had moved to Washington for.
Edward Cullen had a problem.
He couldn't stop thinking about the girl that Emmett had terrorized earlier that day. He could still taste the smell of her, like a burn in the back of his throat. He had never smelled anyone so overwhelmingly tempting. He liked to think that he was very restrained, that he had almost complete control over himself, but this girl had changed that perception. It wasn't until she turned around to face him and Emmett that Edward had felt the full brunt of her scent. His entire self had been assaulted by her smell, and he could feel his resolve, once so strong, crumbling beneath him.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, the fact that he couldn't read her mind just made her even more fascinating. He had never been completely blocked out by anyone before, and as frustrating as it was not to know what the girl had been thinking, it also made her more alluring to Edward. Because her mind wasn't spread out for him to read, he wanted to get to know her even more. He wanted to know what was hidden behind those blazing, angry eyes.
On a primal, guttural level, Edward wanted nothing more than to kill the girl. And because of that, he knew that he had to stay away. But on a personal, intellectual level, Edward wanted nothing more than to get to know the girl.
Yes, Edward Cullen had a problem.
