Chapter 3 – First Impressions
Edward was woken the next morning by the steady bleeping of his alarm clock. He rolled over and turned it off, noting the display showed it was seven. Lucy had to be at school for nine, meaning they had to leave their flat by half eight. He pulled himself out of his nice warm bed to get dressed and as he moved around his room, pulling his clothes on he was glad to find he wasn't hurting quite so much today. Once dressed, he went into the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee to drink whilst he waited for it to reach half seven, when it did he got a glass of milk for Lucy and went to wake her.
"Lucy, time to wake up" he said loudly as he turned the light on in her room. He heard her move around a bit but when he looked at her she still had her eyes closed.
"Come on baby, you've got school today." he said as he went over to her and pulled the cover back. He laughed slightly as he watched her just curl up and screw her eyes tight shut.
"Right...that's it." he warned as he leant down and tickled her, causing her eyes to snap open. She squirmed around on the bed and the room was filled with both her and Edward's laughter. He eventually stopped tickling her and she sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Time to get dressed." he told her and she nodded. She didn't move off the bed though and just yawned so Edward went to her wardrobe and took her school uniform out from it. She just sat looking at it when he placed in down on the bed beside her.
"Come on Lucy, you're not normally this tired." He commented finally stirring Lucy into movement as she pulled her pyjama top over her head. Edward watched her put her shirt on and she was fumbling with the buttons so slowly that he had to step in and do them up for her. Once they were done he left the room to go and get her breakfast ready as she finished getting dressed. She eventually came through to the kitchen dressed but she still looked tired and her clothes were not on straight.
"Come here." he said as she walked through the door and she obediently walked to him and stood there as he sorted her out, pulling the little grey cardigan on straight and tucking her shirt into her skirt. She then sat down in the seat her cereal bowl was sat in front of and Edward poured the milk over it for her. She started to eat it slowly and Edward watched her while getting slightly concerned, she was normally really bright in the mornings and if not straight away she soon woke up. Edward got up from where he had sat down so he could place the back of his hand lightly across her forehead to check if she was ill or not, wondering if the stomach bug she'd had was reappearing.
"Are you feeling ok?" he asked her as he removed his hand, she didn't seem to have a temperature, she just nodded.
"You sure?" and she nodded again.
"What's wrong then?" he asked, "You're normally a lot brighter than this and you were asleep early last night." she just held her arms out so he picked her up out of the chair and hugged her. He kissed the top of her head as she moved her arms around his neck to hug him.
"What's up baby?" he tried, hoping the use of baby might persuade her into telling him.
She mumbled something into his chest making it impossible for him to make out what she had said so he sat down with her and lifted her chin up so she was away from his chest to make it easier to get her to talk
"You want to say that again so I can tell what you say?" he asked.
"Don't want to go." she said more clearly before she buried her head back into his chest.
"I thought you liked school." he said slightly confused, the only other days he had, had problems getting her to school were her first day and when she had been ill. She normally loved school.
"I do." she mumbled quietly and he was getting more confused by the minute.
"Then why don't you want to go?" he asked her. She just looked up at him before she hugged him again and then he understood. He stroked her hair back from her face and kissed her forehead.
"Look at me." he said and when she did, he could see her eyes were not happy. "I'm going to take you to school, then go straight to work and stay there until I come and pick you up from school. I am not going to go anywhere and nothing is going to happen to me so you finish your breakfast up so we can get you to school on time."
Lucy still looked doubtful but smiled slightly and picked up her spoon again. Edward let her finish her breakfast while sat on his knee and then he brushed her hair for her. After that he sent her to go and brush her teeth and wash her face then she was back in the hallway, dressed in her coat, carrying her little pink school bag and her unfastened black shoes on her feet. Edward crouched down and tied them for her and then they were ready to go, bang on time at twenty past eight.
They walked down the streets and by ten to nine they were stood outside Lucy's school gates where Edward was crouched down in front of her trying to get her to go in.
"Look...your friend Anna is there, waiting for you." he told her, looking into the playground to see the girl Lucy always ran up to when she got to school. Lucy looked as well and waved to the girl before she looked back to Edward and hugged him.
"Stay till bell." she asked and Edward gave in to that. He would only be a couple of minutes late for work and it would make her feel better so it would be worth it. He didn't think Garret would mind too much, he was pretty lenient when it came to things involving Lucy.
"Ok, I'll stay here until the bell rings if you go in now." he told her and she nodded and kissed his cheek.
"Wait inside the gates for me tonight ok?" he reminded her as he always did and she nodded.
"Bye bye." she said as Edward straightened up and she ran in the gates.
"Bye." He called after her and she turned and waved before she went up to her friend. As he stood by the gates like he said he would he watched her and saw her point to him making her friend look at him, they were both smiling and he smiled back and waved to them.
"I think your little sister's friends with mine. I'm Bella by the way." A girl's voice said from next to him and he looked to his side to see a girl of roughly his age with long wavy brown hair, a pale complexion and warm brown eyes looking at him. He'd seen her before at the school gates and after feeling a strange pull towards her that made him want to start a conversation with her the very first time he'd seen her during Lucy's first week of school, he'd made sure he kept his distance and did his best not to look out for her. He'd been very successful in his plan to stay away from her as she hadn't noticed him before and always seemed to be in a hurry but now she was standing next to him and smiling at him. Her name suited her as he couldn't help thinking she was beautiful as he looked at her. She wasn't wearing much make-up and she was dressed in dark jeans and a fitted blue t-shirt that could be seen under her open black jacket. She was slim and couldn't have been much taller than five foot four. All in all she was everything he liked in a girl and that strange feeling was even stronger with her standing right next to him so he forced himself to look away and tried to ignore it.
"Edward and she's not my sister" he said as he looked back to the two girls. He frowned slightly realising he'd just given her his name. He hadn't meant to introduce himself. The less she knew about him the better.
"Oh...sorry, it was just...you bringing her to school...and you look kind of similar...I just thought..." Bella stuttered as she blushed, thinking she had made a fool of herself. After glancing back to her Edward realised the blush only made her more beautiful and he had to look away again. He had to stop this now.
"She's my daughter." he told her to put her out of her misery and remind himself why looking at Bella was a bad idea.
"Your daughter?" Bella questioned her eyes wide in shock as she looked to Lucy and then back to him.
"Yep." he answered trying to sound impassive, he'd had similar conversations with most people who saw him with Lucy but he was finding it slightly harder to ignore with this girl. He didn't want her to think badly of him, which was stupid since he didn't even know her and was trying his best to avoid her. As he looked back at her he could see she was having trouble grasping what he'd said.
"But she's got to be...what, five?" she said, still obviously shocked by it.
"Yep." He repeated as he looked away and back to the girls again. Lucy had turned five the month before. They hadn't had a party but they had had fun baking a cake together.
"Oh...I just thought...you looked around my age..." she said quietly and he glanced at her to find she was blushing again. It caused an odd feeling to rush through him and before he could stop himself he was encouraging the conversation when he should have been walking away.
"How old are you?" he asked her, curious about the answer for more than just the topic of their current conversation. He was usually really quiet and kept to himself, he didn't really understand why he was suddenly so willing to talk but he felt compelled to and was finding it hard not to ask her more questions or give her longer answers which was not good. He was really going to have to work harder at staying away from her after this.
"Twenty." she answered and he felt himself smile briefly before his expression fell as he remembered why he had asked in the first place. This would not make anything easier but at least it ought to put her off talking to him.
"I am exactly your age." he told her watching as her eyes went wide again. She had really expressive eyes he noticed and right now he could see how confused and shocked she was. Oddly enough he couldn't see disgust there, but he assumed she just hadn't quite got her head around what he was telling her yet.
"But that would mean you had her at fifteen." she said slowly and he made himself look away, not wanting to see the look on her face now she'd worked it out. She mumbled something to herself which he made an effort not to catch as he spotted Lucy again just when the bell rang. She waved to him before she turned to go in and he waved back. He waited until she had gone into the building before he turned and walked away, leaving Bella standing staring after him as he tried to forget their meeting completely. He didn't need to be haunted by yet another disappointed set of eyes, especially not her pretty brown ones. At least she wouldn't be talking to him again and he could go back to keeping his distance. She was far too pretty and he didn't need any more complications in his life.
Bella watched Edward walk away and wondering if she could have made herself appear any more stupid if she'd tried. She couldn't believe that he was Lucy's dad or how she'd reacted when he'd told her. She suspected she'd probably offended him and that was the last thing she'd wanted to do. Her little sister, Anna, was going to kill her. Anna had been pestering their mother for a while now to have Lucy come over after school one afternoon to play. Renee, their mother, hadn't been too keen as they knew nothing about Lucy or her family but with the continual pleading she had given in and had given Bella the task of speaking to what they thought was Lucy's older brother. They'd both seen him dropping Lucy off at school and had made the automatic assumption that he was her brother based on the fact he looked to be Bella's age. Bella hadn't been too put out when Renee had asked her to talk to him as she'd noticed him the very first day she'd taken Anna to school and had been instantly attracted to him. He was tall, she guessed he had to be at least six foot, had a very angular jaw and striking cheek bones with hair that always seemed to be tousled like someone had run their hands through it and was the same odd shade of reddish brown as his daughters. His eyes were a bright green which always seem to light up and sparkle as he spoke to Lucy but tended to look tired at any other time. His well worn jeans always sat low on his hips and he usually wore band t-shirts and an old leather jacket. She hadn't been the only one at the school gates who had noticed him, she'd seen a lot of the younger mums and older sisters watching him as they all waited for the kids to be let out each afternoon yet he never seemed to notice, always standing off to one side by himself, avoiding the main crowd. She'd always wanted to talk to him but had never been able to think of a reason too and he never looked like he'd be receptive to small talk as she'd never seen him speak to anyone other than Lucy or her teacher. Anna's insistence at having Lucy over to play had been the perfect opportunity and she had screwed it up, he probably hated her and wouldn't want Lucy playing with Anna.
As she watched him walk away with his shoulders slumped, hands shoved in his pockets and eyes on the ground she knew she was going to have to try again, not only because Anna would never let her hear the end of it if she didn't but because she was curious about him now as well as concerned. She wanted to know how he'd come to have a five year old daughter when he was only twenty as well as how he'd come to be covered in bruises. When she'd last seen him outside the school on Wednesday afternoon he'd looked happy and healthy like he usually did, then Anna had said Lucy had been off school ill the following couple of days and now they'd returned to the school he was the one who looked awful. His usually pale skin was marked with ugly dark blue bruises, his lip looked as though it had been split and he had a plaster attached to his forehead, which due to the fact it was squint and had a yellow duck printed on it she guessed Lucy had helped in the clean up from whatever had happened to him. She hoped he was ok and decided she'd try talking to him again the next time she saw him, she got the feeling he needed a friend and she wanted it to be her.