Chapter Four: The First Meetings

I woke up to the morning sun streaming through my window. I reached over to my alarm clock and shut it off. I groaned and turned away from the light and into my pillow. I heard a stereo from the next house and was about to get mad until last night came back to me in a rush and I sat up so quickly I got dizzy.

"Ouch," I muttered as I sat up slower this time. I got up and changed as quickly as I could in my usual jeans and T-shirt. "Mom, do you have breakfast for me this morning?" I called as I jumped down the last of the stairs.

"Sorry honey, I overslept," I heard Mom's muffled voice from her room. Oh, I don't know if I can handle opening the pop tarts by myself. It's not much, but Mom always did it when she could. It was the only meal that she could 'cook' seeing as I always made dinner. After scarfing down a pop tart and chugging a glass of orange juice, I grabbed my backpack and yelled a good bye over my shoulder. I walked out into the warm morning air. I already knew that today would be a scorcher. I was lost in my own world so much that I didn't hear anyone walk up behind me.

"Good morning Bella," a voice said directly in my ear. I jumped and I heard an unmistakable laugh. I turned and saw Edward cracking up but tried to hold it back when he saw my glare.

"Ha ha, good morning to you too," I said as I climbed in the Volvo. This time I flipped on the radio and kept it at just the right volume so we could still talk and started humming along to a Secondhand Serenade CD.

"What did you dream about last night?" Edward said as he pulled out. Um, OK whatever.

"I dreamed that I was Juno's friend from the movie and I was talking about my crush on all the teachers here in Phoenix. Why do you ask?" I asked seriously. Edward lost it and I followed soon after.

"You know that I can hear you when you talk in your sleep, right?" I looked at him with a look of pure horror. "You leave your window open when you sleep and you talk pretty loud. That was one of the many reasons I've decided to grace you with my numerous thoughts." It was true that whenever I'm in my room I have the window open, but still.

"So what did I say last night that made you ask?" I asked him, wondering how much damage I'd caused and what I'd said that made him so curious.

"Something along the lines of 'if I were lesbian, I'd date Mrs. Brown.'" I cracked up, knowing exactly where that was in my dream.

"I'm sorry you have to hear those. I really don't know what I say when I'm asleep and usually I don't remember my dreams so I don't have a clue where the lines come from. What did you dream about?" I asked, ready to stop babbling and turn the spotlight.

"I…don't remember." He blushed a very manly blush (I didn't think that was possible) and I knew that he was lying. OK, this is not fair. He knows what I dream about and even hears them in real time but he won't even give me a short summary of one dream.

"Come on, I won't laugh. I know that you remember." He merely shook his head and busied himself with putting in a Coldplay CD while returning the Secondhand Serenade CD back in its case. The familiar sound of one of my favorite CDs made me hum along before I shook myself back into reality. "Good try, but I still want to know what your dream was about."

"Umm, you." Whoa, not prepared for that. Edward parked and was already climbing out before I could scramble after him.

"So I'll see you at lunch," I said as I caught up. He flashed me a self-conscious smile and nodded his head before walking off to his own class. I walked to my own class, caught in wonderings and more questions I can't answer. I dropped my bag at my seat and Alice started talking at high speed.

"Bella you need to wear more than jeans and a T-shirt. We'll go shopping this weekend. Wait, I think that Rose and I'll come over to your house after we go shopping and we can get you to try on all the clothes that we got. That sounds OK?" I nodded weakly and Alice squealed. Wait, what did I just agree to?

"So Rose and I'll drop by your house around one on Saturday?" Alice said. She looked so happy and I wouldn't mind some time with the girls so I just nodded again. Then the first bell rang and the rest of the period was just one big blur. The bell cut off Mrs. Brown mid-sentence an hour later and I rushed out to second period. I smiled when I remembered that Angela was in this class.

"Hey Angela," I smiled at her as she sat down next to me. Angela looked up at me, surprised that I'd said anything to her. "Why don't you sit with me at lunch today?"

"Me? Why?" she spluttered and I just smiled even wider.

"Why not? It'll be fun, just look for the Cullen's and I'll be sitting with them." With that, class started. In all honesty, I don't think that I was mentally there for the rest of the morning. Until the lunch bell, that is. At the prospects of seeing Edward again, I walked faster.

"Hey Bella," Edward said right behind me as I walked in the door. We went through the line in silence. I guess Edward wanted to keep up his whole 'silent guy' façade but it could be that he was still embarrassed. At any rate, I was still confused about his confession and glad that I didn't have to deal with that quite yet. We made our way to the table and this time Edward sat next to Alice and I sat next to him, making sure that there was an empty seat for Angela.

"Umm, can I sit here?" a shy voice asked from my shoulder.

"Of course you can," I smiled as Angela tentatively took a seat.

"You're Angela, right? I loved all the articles that you have in the newspaper," Jasper said from across the table. I smiled triumphantly, watching as Angela was welcomed like I had been yesterday. Was it only yesterday?

"That was very nice for you to do," Edward whispered in my ear so nobody else could hear. I looked up and shrugged. I looked up and noticed that everyone except Jasper and Angela were staring at us. I blushed and started eating. The conversation was joking and easy all through lunch. Angela started to break out of her shell a bit.

"Let's get to class," Edward said softly as we all stood up. Angela stopped us as we were walking out.

"Bella, thank you. Do you mind if I sit with you tomorrow?" Angela needed to be surer of herself. She didn't think enough of herself and didn't realize how good she really was.

"It's an open invitation. Everyone really likes you and they should," I said and hugged her lightly. I started walking again and I glanced back only to see the biggest smile I've ever seen. It was so bright I swear her beautiful red hair looked like it was on fire. Edward and I kept walking and our arms bumped each other often as we walked. Each touch sent a small shock up my arm through my elbow. I hated and loved the effect he had on me all at once. Of course everyone stared at us as we walked into AP Biology.

"What was the worst movie that you've ever seen?" Edward asked me under his breath as we sat down at our table. Now I had to think about this one.

"I think it has to be Transformers. I understand why some people love it, but it's totally not for me," I said. I looked up and got a glance at the expression on his face.

"How can you not like the huge fight scene at the end?" Edward asked incredulously. I just shrugged because class had already started. Maybe I just didn't watch all that many movies and hadn't hit the truly bad movies. I couldn't focus all during the period because Edward's leg was bouncing up and down against mine. Totally distracting and would've been annoying if it wasn't him. I stood up at the end of the period and noticed that my leg had been numbed which made me stumble. I reached out and steadied myself against Edward's shoulder.

"Easy there greasy," I muttered to myself under my breath. That was a saying that Grandpa Swan had said often and it rubbed off on Charlie. And me too, apparently.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Edward said so that I alone could hear him, like always.

"That's what my dad always says when I trip or do a classic Bella move," I explained as I walked through the crowded hallways. Edward waved to me as I stepped into my last class. I sat down and was soon followed by Jessica.

"Oh my gosh! Did you see how he walked you to class? That was so sweet but I think he should've carried your books too. That's just so romantic," Jessica babbled like we were friends. As soon as I thought that, I caught myself. That was a little too harsh, but still so true.

"It's not like that with us. Besides, I didn't have any books for him to carry." That made her think and shut her up, for today at least. I blinked and the class was over. I mentally wiped my forehead dramatically as I stood up. I walked as fast as I could to the Volvo and even beat Edward.

"Took you long enough," I teased as he unlocked the door and we both threw our bags on the floorboard in the back before buckling our seats.

"Sorry to be such an inconvenience to you," he said, quoting my words from yesterday. I guess he did hear me after all.

"What is your favorite show on NPR?" I asked, seeing as it was my turn to do the questioning.

"It'll have to be Car Talk. But what about you?" he said, turning the tables on me. I was glad that he listened to NPR as well as good music.

"Car Talk is all right, but Wait Wait Don't Tell Me is just a bit better. I think it's funnier too," I explained. Edward merely turned on the radio again, which was still on Coldplay, and made the harmony with his voice again. This silence wasn't like the silence yesterday because it was a lot more comforting. When there is companionship in silence, then you must really know the person or mesh well. I guess you could say that we mesh; I thought as I closed my eyes and opened the window. I let the wind on my face and Edward's perfect harmonies wash away everything else.