Sorry for the wait, but here it is, unedited, and uninhibited.
Bella POV
I lay in bed as the first signs of approaching dawn crept through my windows. My wrist was throbbing, my head was throbbing and I had gotten absolutely no sleep. I was debating asking Charlie to call me out of school, but then Edward Cullen's face popped into my mind.
The glare that was on his face when he looked at me intrigued me. Could he have really been glaring at me like that, or had I blown in out of proportion in my memory.
Normally this kind of confrontation would have me running in the opposite direction. Em was the brave one, the kick ass one. The one who would punch first, ask questions later. I was what most people call a pushover. I hated fights and any form of confrontation, so I usually did what I could to keep the peace.
Something about Edward though, had me eager to go to school and decipher the mystery. I wasn't sure how I was going to go about it, but I knew that he had awakened the stubborn side in me and I was not giving up without some answers.
Giving up on any last minute sleep, I pulled myself out of bed and into the shower. After I showered since it was still absurdly early, I blow dried and straightened my long brunette hair. Then rummaging though Em's eclectic makeup bag, I found some smoky gray eyeliner, and black mascara. I carefully applied them, as I rarely ever used makeup, and when I was done, headed downstairs to get some breakfast.
At this point Emma was up and Charlie was already gone. I grabbed a cup of coffee and tried to ignore the unexplainable butterflies in my stomach.
"Morning," I said to my twin.
"Morning" she replied, looking up from the back of the cereal box she was reading.
"Woah! Bells, are you wearing makeup?" She got up and came to see my face closer. "You are! You never wear makeup. What is up Bells?" She asked triumphantly. "Wait, is this about that boy?"
I blushed. "No. I got up early and just decided to see what all of the fuss is about makeup is all," I lied feebly, before changing the subject. "Come on, we have to go, or we will be late for school."
I grabbed my bag and walked to the door. I felt horribly guilty. I never lied, especially to my twin. But I didn't know why I wanted to look nice for Edward. Or maybe I did, and I just didn't want to think about it too much and that was why I lied. Either way, I was seriously confused.
Emma's POV
I might be dimwitted at times but twin telepathy was a good thing to have at times like this, I know she wouldn't want to impress Mike Newton or the big man on campus himself. Edward Cullen. I rolled my eyes as I grabbed my backpack following Bella out the door.
I personally don't buy his pretty boy status and don't see why every girl thought he was an angel sent from heaven I remain unconvinced and although I normally make fun of the shallow girls who swoon over one particular boy I'm rooting for Bella, she deserves him.
Walking over to the car I had to ask my traditional question, "Can I drive?"
"No." The typical answer was replied. One day it will happen. We drove into the unholy parking lot of school and killed the engine.
"Back to the old grin, another day another dollar," I said climbing out and almost hitting Eric who was waiting outside the door. "Hello," I said in surprise.
"Good morning sunshine can I take your books to English?"
"I'm fully capable of doing that myself but thanks." I said walking over to Bella who was joined by the rest of our 'group'.
"So Emmy, have you rethought about La Push?" Jessica asked in her cheery morning bird chirp.
"Maybe, I really want to go to Florida for spring training,"
"Come on, it's La Push, baby, La… Push," Eric said in a slightly creepy tone.
"What's there that can convince me to reconsider and make one of the dumbest decisions of my life?"
"A lot, let's see there are tide pools, campfire, whale watching, we can hike, get cozy by a fire,"
"And if the weather is nice we can go surfing." Tyler cut in.
My conscience fought with me, 'No dumb ass no, Phillies Spring Training, getting a great preview of how the season may turn out don't say it. You surfed your entire life, you can let this one go, plus it is only an if a big fat if don't say it-'
"Fine, I'll go." I said mentally kicking myself. "Just none of you can tell me to get off my phone if Phil calls me or I swear someone will be dead in the middle of the Pacific Ocean." Everyone let out a laugh except for Bella who knew I wasn't joking.
The bell rang causing the mass of people in the parking lot to file into one of the many separated buildings.
"I'm so excited you decided to come it's going to be great. I can bring my iPod and dock and we can dance on the beach." Jessica prated next to me.
"So you're a surfer?" Eric asked.
"Yup." I replied taking my seat.
"Your pretty athletic, can't say the same for your sister." Jessica said.
"Yea, she got the klutz gene if you didn't know that by now."
"You know what other girls say about you, right?" She asked leaning in closer.
"Yes and I don't care. I'm not going to change who I'm because of what other people think."
"So you don't care they think you're a man eater?" she said shocked.
"Excuse me a what?" I asked looking at her.
"You know a girl who is obviously out to get every guys attention,"
"I know what it means. I'm just surprise you people say that, isn't that from the seventies, I think it's time for new terminology don't you think. And besides, they can think what they want, at least I have fun doing what I want."
"Yeah you tell her girl." Eric chimed in. Jess glared at the two of us before whipping around in her seat.
"Yo, Psycho Pageant girl has an attitude." I said out loud causing Eric to let out a chuckle as Jess turned and glared. 'Finally! There is a God she might be getting the hint.'
'Or not,' because the walk to Trig was the same as it was yesterday, endless chatter about stuff I really couldn't care less about, however I entertained myself by making rhetorical comments in my head, Why is this girl so annoying? Does she have a mute button? I wonder what Bella is doing probably having a better time than me.
Arabella Pov:
I was currently banging my head in honors Spanish class. Yet again the mysterious Cullens were a no show. I looked for them in English, as I did all of the work on our project by myself. In Calculus, I was a little more distracted since we were trying to figure out something that in my mind equated to quantum physics- or something like that because it was all in gibberish to me. I might have well as been in a class on ancient Greek. In Ap American history, I knew we were speaking Greek because the teacher there actually had us rewrite the preamble to the Constitution in Greek all because someone was talking when she was. I still noticed the absence of two students though.
Here I was in la clase de Espanol, bored out of my mind by Jessica's insipid chattering, and dejected.
I had planned to confront Edward Cullen today. I wasn't normally a pushy person, more like a push over as my twin would lovingly say, but something about him brought out a fire in me, and sparked my normally dormant temper.
The rest of the day passed in a similar manner, each class I would walk in the door, look around hopefully until the bell rang, and then sadly give up as the last stragglers entered the room.
Lunch was no different, but when I approached biology, my luck changed.
Leaning against the wall outside our classroom was my elusive lab partner.
Like the first day, he took my breath away. Unlike the first day, he smiled enigmatically at me instead of glaring like I was his personal demon summoned from hell just to torment him.
"Hi," he said, blocking my way as I tried to enter the classroom.
I looked up in agitation. I had put makeup on for him, he wasn't there when I looked, and now he was acting like he had split personality disorder.
"What are you like Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, or something?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.
He stared at me incredulously, before bursting into laughter.
"No," he answered and his voice was like honey. "I was going to apologize for my behavior before. I was incredibly rude, and I was raised to be a gentleman. So mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa," he stated with a little bow of his head.
Ok now we really are speaking Greek, I thought, well Latin technically, but you get the point.
"It is your fault, it is your fault, it is your grievous fault?" I asked.
He glanced at me disbelievingly. "You know Latin?" he questioned.
"You know latin?" I questioned right back- I was amazed at my smartass ability. Living with Em all of these years must have rubbed off. "Yes, I speak a little, and now are you going to move, so we can go to class?"
He deliberated for a second. "No, actually I am going to skip. Skipping can be healthy, or so they say."
I brushed my way past him. An electric shock shot through me at the touch of his cold skin. It was like he had held it under a snow drift. But I shook off my confusion quickly.
"Yeah, well, people also used to say bleeding themselves was a good plan but we all know how that worked out," I muttered under my breath, not intending him to hear.
Yet again, I seemed to shock him as he heard. Walking away in the opposite direction, he muttered, "Alice was right," so quietly that I figured I wasn't supposed to hear it either.
I entered the class just as the bell rang. The teacher had handed out a bunch of petri dish looking things, and mini droplets and lancets.
Oh no, I could see the blood coming now. Mr. Molina poked Mike in his finger as he explained what we would be doing today.
Most of his explanation was lost on me, while I tried to regulate my breathing.
I always got sick at the sight of blood. I placed my head on my desk, and tried to take deep breaths through my mouth so as not to get sick.
Eventually Mr. Molina reached my table and noticed something was wrong.
I didn't concentrate on much after that, but the next thing I knew Mike was helping me out the door.
"I'll get you to the nurse's office Bella," he stated reassuringly.
"Just keep your hand in your pocket," I warned queasily.
We barely made it out of the door, when I had to sit down. I plopped to the curb and laid my head on the cool pavement. I was thanking God for the cool rain- something I normally detested, when I heard a musical voice.
"What is wrong with her?" the voice asked angrily.
Mike's retort was short tempered. All of a sudden I felt my body leave the ground as I was swung though the air.
That didn't help my fight against vomiting much, and it was a few seconds before I could look up at the person who was carrying me.
"You were right," I stated.
"I usually am," Edward answered back. "But what in particular was I right about this time?"
"Ditching is healthy," I mumbled causing him to burst into laughter. As he shook with laughter, I tried to get out of his grasp, but it was like trying to break an iron chain.
"I can walk you know."
"Yeah, and let you fall? I don't think so," he responded.
His face was extremely close to mine when I looked up, and I noticed two warring emotions in his eyes, before he broke away.
"So," I said to break the awkward moment. "A bunch of us are going to the beach Saturday."
"Hmm, sounds… fun. "
"Yeah. It's a group of us, and anyone is invited, if you are interested."
"What beach?" he asked.
"Does it matter? Anyway La Push. Or as Eric calls it, 'its La Push, baby, La Push.'"
"I would, but I have to go out of town this weekend. And besides, the beach isn't really my thing."
With that he somehow managed to open the door to the nurse's office without dropping me.
Ten embarrassing moments later, he had convinced the nurse to send me home.
"Yay! No gym," I stated almost skipping as I headed outside- and of course being me, almost falling.
"Someone is feeling better," he said catching me, and practically pulling me to his car.
"Wait, I can't leave. What about my sister?"
"She can take your truck home."
"The hell she can! Do not let her drive that!"
"Fine," he said starting the car.
"I'll have my sister drive it and her back. Mind telling me why she shouldn't drive before I let Alice anywhere near her?"
"Let's just say the driving instructor back in Arizona will never be the same, and the driving course now has a scenic route."
"Remind me not to park my Volvo anywhere near your sister," he stated and we both laughed.
"Oh, she is not that bad. Just make sure there are no baseball bats around," I kidded.
His eyes widened, not knowing if I was serious or not. Funny thing was he should have heeded that warning.
