End of Chapter 5

I looked down at her. Why did that annoying little pixie have to be so observant? I had to get away from her and clear my head of the path she was taking me down. I sped up to my room, and loaded up my CD player with some punk rock. There is no way this would allow thoughts of Bella to wander into my head. I sank down onto my leather sofa, and closed my eyes hoping I could distract myself until morning.

Around four o'clock, I decided to go hunting. It was safest if I next saw Bella with my thirst as satiated as possible. I got back in time to clean up and get dressed. My siblings were waiting for me in my Volvo. This felt good. This felt normal. We arrived at school, and I did a quick look around the parking lot for Bella's pre-historic Chevy truck. She hadn't arrived yet. I decided just to head straight to my class before she did turn the corner. I could at least avoid her until lunch.

I caught myself monitoring her every conversation and movement through the morning. Her closed mind had me reeling with questions with everything she did. In English class, the teacher had given them a pop quiz on Wuthering Heights. I was shocked to see through a grimacing Mike Newton's mind, that the news of this quiz made Bella smile! What teenager smiles about a pop quiz? Then later, when the fat flakes of snow began to swirl about campus, Bella's sour face stood out in a sea of smiles. What was she thinking?

I was caught up in my thoughts as I was the first person to walk out of my building when the bell rang for lunch. Before I could register their thoughts, two snowballs came crashing into my head. Damn it! I quickly reached down to grab my retaliatory ammunition for my brothers who were laughing and pointing at my dripping hair. I managed to get one good shot in at each of them before the girls arrived. We all knew that even thinking about snow going anywhere near Rosalie's hair meant certain death, or at least destruction of cherished possessions.

My siblings flanked me as we walked into the lunchroom that afternoon. Alice and Rosalie went and got our food while Jasper and Emmett sat on either side of me.

"So, what has everyone been saying today? What did Bella say about you while you were gone?" Jasper asked like he was gathering recon info to work into his strategy. Always the officer.

"Nothing at all. Sorry to take some of the fun out of your game." I tried to keep the tone of my voice cool and uninterested. I was surprised that she hadn't mentioned to anyone that I had glared at her so vehemently while killing her 100 different ways in my mind last week. Alice gave me enough warning so I could hold my breath as she walked into the lunch room. While we sat there, she let us know when she was going to look, so we could put on our normal family on a snowy day facade.

I did try to steal some glances at Bella throughout lunch. I had to see if those eyes, if that face was something I had dreamed up in Denali. I knew it wasn't. My vampire brain gave me a photographic memory, but it was my excuse all the same for staring. Unfortunately, Jessica Stanley was paying attention.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," Jessica Stanley whispered.

"He doesn't look angry, does he?" Bella whispered back. She had noticed. Of course she had! I stalked her to every corner of the school, and even to her own home in my moments with her in biology last week.

"No," Jessica told her. "Should he be?"

"I don't think he likes me," Bella whispered back. As she said this, she laid her head down. Was she tired? Was she sick? She hadn't gotten anything for lunch. I had to quit thinking about this. I had to quit caring about what she was eating or not eating. Whether she got enough sleep last night. But she looked so frail laying there. Like a swooning ingenue in the old movies. I suddenly pictured Bella in Greta Garbo's role in Camille. Sprawled across her velvet settee with her one arm up across her forehead. Her brown wavy hair spilling all around her. Her eyes closed in repose with her thick eye lashes laying across her soft pink cheeks.

"The Cullens don't like anybody," Jess reassured her. "Well, they don't notice

anybody enough to like them. But he's still staring at you."

"Stop looking at him," Bella said anxiously. Just then, Jasper elbowed me. I turned and gave him a questioning look.

"You know what." Was all he said. Just then the bell rang. I let Bella leave first. I wanted to let her get to biology before I did, so I could approach her at my own speed and volition instead of being surprised again.

"Let's go everyone." Alice said. "Edward will be fine." We all trusted Alice's visions, and they gave me the confidence I needed. I smiled weakly at my family.

"Good luck" Emmett muttered.

"I'll be watching." Alice said with more of a warning to her voice than assistance. "Play your part. Set things right. Don't kill the human." She winked, threaded her hand though Jasper's waiting arm, and left me to turn and head to biology.

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Great? Terrible? Everything you've been waiting for? Probably, not yet, but send me a review and let me know.

I did borrow some of Stephenie's direct dialog for this chapter. The words between Bella and Jessica are the property of Stephenie Meyer. I just borrowed them.