Bella just wanted to tease him now–I could tell by the look on her face. "Why do you want to go to prom with me?" She sounded innocent, but sexy.
He smiled. "Well, you're smoking hot and I was thinking maybe after prom we could-"
That was it. I knew where he was headed and I couldn't stay calm. He only liked Bella for her body and he only wanted to take her to prom because he wanted some action. Anger flooded through my entire body. Not even Jasper could calm me down now.
Without really feeling it, my body slowly stood up, acting as a wall between Bella and Matt. "What did you just say?" I hissed at him.
He didn't seem to feel frightened like most humans did–or should. He should've been running out of the cafeteria screaming. Why was he so confident? "I'm sorry, I don't think I was talking to you," he snapped back at me sarcastically.
Calm down, bro… He's not worth it, Emmett tried to calm me, but I was past that.
Take it easy, Alice and Jasper both warned me.
"Don't you dare talk to my girlfriend like that," I warned him.
"What are you going to do about it?" He teased, wanting to fight. "You got a lot of nerve to talk like that," I hissed again, edging closer to him. At that, Jasper and Emmett stood up, wanting to protect me. The concern wasn't necessary, there was absolutely nothing this human could do to me that would put me in danger.
"You want to take this outside?" He threatened.
Bella stood up quickly, almost too quickly. "Edward, calm down." "Just stay out of this, all right, sweetheart?" He told her.
That was it. I was done. No one was going to talk to Bella that way. This guy deserved to be thrown off a cliff and given to the werewolves to eat.
Without thinking, I grabbed Matt's shirt and pulled him to the nearest door, and threw him outside. All of my effort was used to focus on using as little force as a human did–I wanted to rip him to shreds.
Jasper followed close behind me, and was followed by Emmett who had his arm around Bella, making sure she was safe. There was no need to worry about her, she'd faced much, much worse. Rose and Alice still sat at the lunch table in the cafeteria, acting as though nothing had happened. Rose was extremely mad at me for loosing my temper so badly. Alice, on the other hand, knew how the fight would turn out and didn't worry one bit. I was too distracted to find the outcome of the fight in her mind.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a few students looking at the five of us from the windows of the cafeteria. They were obviously excited about the entertainment.
"Twenty bucks on the Cullen kid," One student said as he reached for his wallet.
My focus turned to Bella. In the protection of Emmett's huge arms, she looked small and helpless. It reminded me of when she was human. When she was so fragile like the human who was being held by the shirt. Bella was worried over nothing. She should know that nothing bad would happen to either of us. No one would touch her.
The kid got closer to me. When he was sure I wasn't going to punch him right at that moment, he whispered to me, "After I break your nose, I'm going to take the girl to my room. And, well, you probably know what I'll do to her after that."
The kid must've seen me shaking with anger. Did he not have any common sense? Did he want to die today? There was nothing I wanted more that moment than to take him to the woods and kill him. I wouldn't drink his blood though, someone that foul deserved to die slowly and painfully. His blood probably tasted horrible, anyway- reflecting his personality.
If I didn't have the self-control that I did happen to have, I would've exposed our family right then and there, not caring what happened to us.
Just do it, Edward. Carlisle will understand. I would do the exact same thing if it were Rose. Heck, the dude would be dead right now if it was Rose he was talking about! Emmett started to make a lot of sense, and for a short second, I saw the advantages of killing this boy. Emmett didn't mean for me to expose us, he meant to simply seclude the boy in the forest and then kill him.
"Aren't you going to do anything?" He repeated. After a few moments and I didn't respond, he started edging closer and closer to Bella.
Yes. Yes, he did want to die.
For a short second, I wondered why Alice hadn't come outside yet. She must've seen me kill this boy. Why wasn't she trying to stop me? Or did she feel the same way that I did about killing him?
How convenient. A second later, he turned his face to me and I swung a human-forced punch at him. He fell to the ground and stayed down for a second, shocked. Blood stained the concrete patio we were standing on. My throat suddenly felt dry and ached with a burning passion that could only be caused by human blood. My gaze flashed to Jasper and Bella. Jasper had never been sane while around human blood, and Bella had never been exposed to such a thing.
It's okay, Edward. I'm fine. Blood doesn't bother me anymore. Concentrate on the boy, Jasper assured me.
I've got her. She doesn't even seem to be tempted by the blood. Some crazy newborn, Emmett also assured me as he secured h is grip on Bella.
The kid was still on his knees, holding his bleeding nose with the hand that hadn't even touched me. He was terrified. He wasn't going anywhere as long as I was around.
After finding a speck of my self-control, I told him, "If you ever talk to my girlfriend that way–if you ever talk to her again, period–you won't see daylight again. You even think about touching her, and you'll have to go through me. You got that?" I was loosing the little hold I had on my anger.
He was so terrified, he couldn't speak. He slightly nodded and stumbled to his feet. When he stabilized himself, he ran as far away from me as possible. Good. Bella ran straight for my arms. If she could cry, tears would be running down her cheeks. She seemed almost hysterical, even with me holding her against my body. "Bella, love, everything is okay. It's fine. Shh… It's okay, love."
After a moment or two, her gold eyes looked into mine, and she kissed me on the lips for as long as any normal human could without breathing. "I love you," she stated when our lips separated.
"If only I could show you how much I love you," I said to her and held her tighter against my chest.
A couple of minutes went by before the students went back to their seats in the cafeteria. Knowing nothing else exciting was going to happen, they got bored and left to tell their friends about the incident.
Rose and Jasper were furious with me. Rose's face as she walked through the door alongside Alice pierced right through me. She hated anything that had a possibility of putting our family in danger. But nothing had happened. That was just a normal fight between two normal teenage boys over a normal teenage girl… Right?
We're leaving, Rosalie thought as she linked arms with Emmett. She didn't bother stopping or waiting for us on the way to Emmett's Hummer; she wanted to leave.
Edward, Edward, Edward… Jasper scolded me as he replayed the incident in his head. Had I really looked that furious? How was my lifeless face able to turn red with anger?
The six of us glided swiftly to Emmett's Hummer. We began walking faster when we were sure no human could see us. Silence washed over us. No one said a word until the Hummer was on the freeway, heading home.
"Seriously, Edward, what were you thinking?" Rose scolded me. There was no way for me to answer her. In truth, I honestly had no clue what had been going through my mind at the time. The only thing that mattered to me was Bella and her safety. And the kid was trying to endanger that.
"I wasn't thinking, Rose. Wouldn't you do the same if that was Emmett?" She grimaced, knowing I was right. "You better realize that if that had gotten out of hand, you would've exposed our entire family. And to tell you the truth, I don't really think you care. You-"
Rose was interrupted by Jasper, who was just as furious. "No. That did get out of hand. Edward, you should've just let it go. Obviously, the boy can't harm us in any way. You really should have just forgotten about it and found some self-control."
My face turned to flash a glare at Jasper. "You cannot talk to me about self control. How long did it take you to actually handle being around Bella when she was human? How long did we have to protect her from you?"
Alice was not happy. As much as she liked me, she would put Jasper over me any day. "Edward, that was entirely unnecessary! You know why Jasper has had so much trouble with that. Do not hold any of that against him. He showed a tremendous amount of self-control. Maybe you should have done the same today." Emmett looked back at me and I met his glare, looking for support. Sorry, dude. I have to agree with them on this one.
A wave of shame swept across my body. They were right. What an irresponsible thing to do! What was I thinking? As much a Bella meant to me, a line needed to be drawn somewhere.
Rose flashed another glance at me, hoping her words had sunk in. They had. "I am sorry. I was being very irresponsible and there's no excuse for what I did." "That's better," Alice's voice sang, happier that she'd made me realize my mistake.
She nodded in approval. I didn't deserve such a wonderful sister.
My attention turned to Jasper. "Jasper, I am so sorry for what I said. Truly. You have to know I didn't mean it. We all respect the immense self-control you have."
Jasper, being quiet as usual, decided to just answer me in his head, You are forgiven. I would have done the same for Alice. I understand why you did it, and I don't blame you. Sorry for yelling at you earlier. It was unnecessary.
I quickly nodded, knowing Jasper would catch the gesture.
Now that we had worked out that particular quarrel, that car was at peace. We arrived home just a few minutes later–the unusual traffic made the ride take longer. Carlisle was waiting for us, wanting to know why we were home so early. He wasn't yet aware of the mishap I'd caused.
Just as Carlisle was about to greet us, he saw the frustration on our faces. What is it, Edward? He silently questioned.
Jasper could tell what Carlisle was thinking. Usually, he would've kept something like this a secret from Carlisle, but in this case Jasper believed it was important for the matriarch of the family to know about the little mishap. I'm going to tell him, Edward. Whether you like it or not. Don't try to stop me. "Earlier today there was a… complication."
"What kind of a complication?" Esme and Carlisle both asked in unison. I grimaced, waiting for the reactions of my adopted parents.
Jasper hesitated. "At lunch there was a boy–human–who came up to Bella and asked her-"
I interrupted Jasper then, knowing Carlisle and Esme wouldn't understand the story unless it was told from my point of view. "A boy asked Bella to the prom. I heard his vile, repulsing thoughts and lost my temper," I successfully fought back a snarl, remembering the incident.
"And…?" Carlisle questioned.
"He was thinking about-about… raping Bella." As hard as I was trying to keep myself under control, there was no stopping a low hiss from escaping me. Esme gasped. Carlisle kept his face calm. What happened? His tone was more forceful now, anxious to hear the rest of the story.
"I'm so sorry, Carlisle," I shifted my head over to Esme, "Esme. You must know I had no other choice. If you would've heard the things he was thinking-" "Please, Edward. What happened? We can discuss the rest later," Carlisle was beginning to be impatient.
A few seconds passed. "The kid wanted to fight me, so I threw him outside of he cafeteria and gave him a good punch across he face." Even though I was upset about what had happened, thinking of the boy laying on the concrete scared to death excited me. A faint smile escaped me and flashed across my face.
There was a low chuckle behind me. Emmett.
This time, it was Esme who spoke. "Was there-"
"Blood? Yes."
"Then what-"
"Jasper handled the situation just as well as Emmett. Bella didn't even react; she was too focused on me."
Edward, how could you be so irresponsible? Carlisle scolded me.
He was right. I was irresponsible and I deserved the worst punishment a vampire could be given.
As I nodded to Carlisle–acknowledging his comment about my behavior–a new thought occurred to him. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe school just isn't right for you and Bella now. I'll make the arrangements for you three to go back Esme's island. In a year or so, maybe-
"No."
My family turned to look at me. Bella's adoring, confused eyes stared into mine. "Bella is perfectly capable of handling school. I'm the one who keeps screwing up. Let me handle my own mistakes, Carlisle."
Alright, son, but one more mistake, and I'm afraid we'll have to leave. And I don't think that's in anyone's best interest now. His face turned to Jacob, who still had Renesmee nestled in his arms.
Again, I nodded to Carlisle and then turned my attention to Bella. Fire raged in the pit of my stomach as I tried to comprehend how even a human could just look at Bella and only like her for her body.
My thoughts circled around Carlisle's suggestion–to go to Esme's Island for a year or so. How wonderful that year would be. The three of us alone together, not having to hide our true nature.
But then I remembered my duty. I owed it to my family to watch out for them and protect them. What would they do at a time like this without me?
Just a few seconds passed as I went through our options in my head. As the silence started to bother Bella, she grabbed Renesmee from Jacob's arms and cradled her. "What did you do to her, Jake? She is totally out of it"
Jacob smirked. "We just went on a little hunting trip. She never told me she was tired or wanted to go back…"
Bella smiled back at him. "I'm just glad she's sleeping now rather than later." As the words absorbed into Jacob's mind, he began to feel confused. "Wait. Why is that better?"
I walked over to Bella–who was sitting on the couch with her daughter–and put my arms on her rock hard shoulders. "Bella and I are taking Renesmee to see Charlie for the weekend."
Even though the trip was a surprise to Jacob, I could feel he was relieved. He'd begun to think we were leaving him like Carlisle had20suggested. Everyone seemed to be surprised–apart from Alice.
"Some details, Edward?" Rosalie asked aloud.
"Bella hasn't seen Charlie for a month or so, as well as Renesmee. And I think we all agree that everyone needs to take a break and relax." I squeezed Bella's shoulders tighter. "Carlisle, aren't Kate and the rest of the Denali coven visiting soon?"
Carlisle's head flew up from concentrating heavily on our discussion. He was obviously surprised by my sudden questioning. "Yes. Next weekend."
"It's settled, then. If the Denali coven is visiting next weekend, this weekend is the only other option." I smiled, surprised at how much sense I was making. Although Carlisle wouldn't object to the trip, he wasn't thrilled about it, either. Just like the others, he was worried about whatever the pack had found out in the forest; as well as Charlie's safety. But hadn't we already decided Bella could control herself?
"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Esme asked, still optimistic.
I smiled at her. "I'm positive."
"Alright, then. Just for the weekend." She repeated.
"When are you leaving?" Emmett asked. I hadn't noticed him move from the kitchen to right behind me. We'll need to hunt before you leave.
I mentally planned our trip in my head. After a second of consideration, I decided the best way to go about the weekend. "We'll hunt tonight. We'll take separate cars tomorrow and pick Renesmee up right when we get home from school. We'll be in Forks Saturday morning." Mentally doing the math, I realized it would take someone going the legal speed limit a few days to make this trip. Good thing we were speeding.
Bella sighed. "I hate driving. Running is so much faster."
I sighed along with her. "I know, love, but we wouldn9t want to frighten Charlie more than he already is by appearing out of the forest out of nowhere. Humans drive cars."
She chuckled and I smiled back at her. By the look on her darkened gold eyes, I could tell I'd gotten her crooked smile right.
Coming out of her drowsiness, Renesmee yawned. What are we doing? She asked me, already used to our silent conversations.
"We're going to see Grandpa!" I crooned to my beautiful daughter. Though her light didn't shine as bright with her mother in the room in comparison, it was impossible not to be so cheerful around her.
"Yes!" She slightly yelled in excitement. Renesmee loved spending time with Charlie. Spending more time with the werewolves also had some effect on her thrilled expression.
Bella and I both smiled at our happy daughter. We were both excited to be able to go back to the place where our lives actually began–or existence for that matter.
Alice's eyes brightened for a moment. Yes! A new excuse to dress Bella! I smiled at my hopeful sister, knowing she always underestimated how stubborn Bella was. "Don't even think about it, Alice." I smiled.
Bella's eyes flickered back to me, knowing she had some part in this. "What?"
"Well, I can't have you going to Charlie's looking like that!" Alice's eyes scanned Bella from her shoes up to her hair-that was pulled back into a messy ponytail.
Bella stuck her tongue out playfully at Alice. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Alice chuckled lightly at Bella. "You have a huge closet full of clothes and you choose to wear jeans a T-shirts every day! Really, Bella…"
Bella flashed Alice a stubborn look, and then started to smile.
At that, Alice knew she'd won this time. She lightly and gracefully jumped up and down in the room, happy to be able to use the closet she'd given to Bella as a present.
Renesmee and Bella giggled at the show. "What will I wear, Mommy?" Renesmee sang to her mother.
Smiling brightly with happiness, Bella brushed her hand over Renesmee's cheek. "I think that's up to your Aunt Alice, sweetheart."
Alice suddenly went from excited to impatient. "Well, then, hurry! We'll have a dun little fashion show when you get back from hunting!" Her eyes flickered to me, Don't be long, Edward.
I smiled at her, and led the way to the back door. Walking swiftly beside Bella and I, Renesmee was going through different memories of hunting, as she usually did. There were a few memories I hadn't seen before-obviously from her day out with Jacob.
As soon as we were out the back door, the three of us took off in a sprint. Seeing as Renesmee couldn't quite keep up with us yet, we were going slower than usual.
With her sharp newborn senses, Bella detected the herd of deer before Renesmee and I did. Bella led the way; followed by Renesmee and then me. Even though Bella was still stronger than I was, I beat her to the first buck in sight. Not wanting to be outdone, Bella and Renesmee quickly found the other biggest deer in the herd.
The deer's blood was hot and soothed the dry ache in my throat. Even though I wasn't terribly thirsty, there was nothing stopping me from drinking the deer dry.
Just a few minutes passed before Bella stood up from the carcass and wiped the dirt from her jeans. She walked swiftly over to me in just a second and wrapped her arms around my waist.
Renesmee was totally absorbed in her dinner. She stood up-oblivious to our intertwined bodies-and covered her eyes as soon as she saw us. "Stop it! Stop it!" She joked.
Bella and I chuckled, releasing each other so we could hold hands. Heading home took half the time it had taken us to find the herd of deer. Renesmee wanted to race, and Bella wanted to see how much her newborn strength had worn off.
As I got closer to my room, I could hear giggles coming from the three girls. Each laugh was so different and unique. Renesmee's laugh was pure joy and happiness. Alice's laugh was more light and purely for enjoyment. Bella's laugh, on the other hand, was rather singing than laughter. Her laugh made me smile her crooked smile that she loved.
From the images I saw in both Renesmee and Alice's heads, I could tell Bella was showing them her most recent outfit she'd tried on.
As I approached the door to the bedroom, I could hear Renesmee, "Beautiful, Mommy."
Come in, Alice directed me as I laid my hand on the door. There was no point in even trying to surprise Alice; that task was pretty much placed in the impossible category.
The pictures I'd seen in the minds of Renesmee and Alice were shameful compared to her through my eyes. She was wearing an icy blue dress – silk – with snow-white high-heeled shoes. No wonder they were still taking turns showing each other their outfits. By the looks of it, Alice had done both Bella and Renesmee's hair.
Half a second passed from when I entered the room to when Bella noticed I was there. She'd obviously been focused on her daughter and sister-in-law, rather than who was coming and going through the room.
"Edward!" She half yelled and jumped into my arms. She looked me in the eyes and kissed me briefly on the lips.
When our lips separated, she smiled at me once again.
"Hello, love," I greeted her and admired her beautiful face.
I let her down to take in her whole appearance. Wow. The dress she had on made her already amazing body even more unbelievable. There was no way I was going to be able to let her out of my sight for the rest of the night. Her once deep brown eyes were now gold, with just a hint of red by the pupils.
My concentration was interrupted by Bella's lips on mine. We kissed for a longer time now; more passionate. Even though it saddened me that Bella was sad, I always felt strangely anxious whenever Bella missed me; even if it was just for a short period of time.
Our kissing was stopped by Alice. She politely cleared her throat. That's enough, Edward… she joked.
I reluctantly turned my face to Alice. She was blankly starring at me, smiling. I could tell just by her face that she wasn't having a vision; she was thinking deeply. Her thoughts continued for a moment, and then she suddenly snapped out of it. "Hey- where did Rose go?"
Keeping as straight of a face I could manage, I answered, "She decided she wanted to go with Emmett and Jasper hunting, after all. Seeing as her job only took a minute or so, she considered herself useless here at the moment."
Seeing no hint of lying in my eyes, Alice bought the cover I'd quickly come up with to protect Rose. "Really? I guess I was too busy with Bella to notice her deciding to go with them."
Continuing with my straight face, I added, "Yeah. Probably."
Alice looked straight to Bella. Now that her questions were answered, she went right back to being the insane fashion show director. "Don't just stand there!" she joked. "Go change back into your clothes!"
Bella sighed and rolled her eyes at Alice.
Alice returned the sarcasm. "Bella, knowing you, there are a lot of things you could do to ruin that dress in just a matter of seconds." She smiled.
Not wanting to go down without a fight, Bella kicked Alice in the shin. Alice had always been one to take the high rode and be the bigger person. After a second of thinking it through, she just sighed and once again pointed Bella to her closet to change.
Five seconds later, Bella was back in her usual jeans and T-shirt. She picked Renesmee up and held her by the waist.
"What are we going to do now, Mommy?" Renesmee asked as the three of us flew down the long staircase.
Bella looked to me for guidance. My eyes flickered from her and back to Renesmee. "We're going to call Grandpa. We wouldn't want him to be gone when we get there tomorrow."
Renesmee's eyes filled with joy. There was no doubt that this road trip was very important to her; she was beyond excited.
Her hand went to Bella's forehead. Renesmee quickly went through all of her encounters with Charlie – the highlights. After a minute or so of showing this to Bella, Renesmee looked at me. Did you see all of them? She asked me.
I slightly nodded. Renesmee was already used to the fact that I could read her mind, as well as see her pictures.
Downstairs, Rosalie and Emmett sat on the couch closest to the television. A football game was on and the two were discussing which teams they thought would make it to the Super Bowl this year. Rosalie was the only female in the house who could sit and talk about football for hours with Emmett.
Leaving Bella's side for just a moment, I grabbed my cell phone from the dining room table where I'd left it when we got home from school.
"What should I tell Charlie?" She asked nervously as she took the phone from my hand.
I paused for a fraction of a second, pondering over her question. "Just tell him we would like to visit him tomorrow and ask if that's all right with him."
Bella nodded and then dialed Charlie's number. After it ringed for the second time, she quickly handed Renesmee to me. She liked to walk around and use her hands when on the phone with her father.
Hello. Charlie answered in a husky voice.
"Hi, Charlie," Bella replied lightly in her human voice she'd been practicing. Charlie cleared his throat. Bella! Hi! How are you, honey?
Bella smiled. "I'm great, Dad. Really. Renesmee and Edward are doing great, as well."
I'm guessing you didn't call just to say 'hi' to me, right?
A light chuckle came from Charlie, and Bella tried to mimic the sound. "You're right. Actually, Edward and I were talking and we decided that we miss you. We miss you a lot. And so I was wondering if you were doing anything this weekend?"
Charlie didn't hesitate with his response. That would be amazing, Bells! I can catch a plane and be up there in just a few hours! Then-
Bella cut him off. "Actually, Dad, we were wondering if we could drive up there and visit you."
This surprised Charlie. He obviously wasn't expecting Bella to ever make it home again.
That sounds even better! He concluded after a moment of thinking things over.
"Great. We're planning on leaving tomorrow. So we'll probably be there Saturday morning. The plane leaves at five in the afternoon tomorrow."
Charlie was truly surprised. Wow. So you already had all of this planned out before you even called me.
Bella smiled again. "You know Alice. She didn't waste a second. She's already picked out our outfits and she booked the flight this afternoon."
I smiled with Bella. If Alice had had access to the internet during school, she would've booked the flight the moment she'd seen us deciding to visit Charlie.
I'm so happy you decided to visit me, Bells. To tell you the truth, I thought you'd never come back home.
This did not surprise Bella. She knew he thought this just as well and I did. "I didn't really think I was going to come home, either. But I'm glad we decided to come."
Will Renesmee be joining you two? What an odd question for Charlie to ask. He should know that the three of us were practically inseparable, except for when we were at school.
"Of course she's coming. Renesmee is actually the most excited to go," Bella joked.
Well, then. I guess I have to start cleaning up the house. I'll see you Saturday morning. Do you want me to pick you up from the airport?
"No, Dad, it's fine. We'll get a taxi and meet you at home."
All right, I'll be here. I love you, Bells.
"I love you too, Dad." There was a click on the other end of the phone. Charlie had hung up.
Bella closed the cell phone and starred at me. Her golden eyes were filled with excitement.
**Let me know how you like it!**