Guys I'm incredibly sorry for not updating sooner. I've had a whole bunch of complicated homework (mostly math) for several nights now that takes up a lot of my evening, I've been helping decorate the house for the holidays, I'm also helping prepare the house for a visit from a relative out of state, I've had show choir practice most nights, birthdays in the family, relatives in the hospital, a minor case of writer's block, and I've been dealing with getting over my crush of over two years here recently which has left me in a very blah mood and I can't bring myself to sit down and write. So I felt I owed a chapter to you guys, since you have been such lovely devoted readers. Ha but then get this. I must have terrible luck or something with writing these chapters, because I finally found the opportunity to sit and type something up, and I didn't have too much material yet, but most of the first half was finished....and get this....I accidentally hit a search button on my Google tool bar because I was researching what the weather is like in Phoenix for this chapter, and nothing was saved, so I lost it all and had to retype it. Ugh, bad luck for me. So regardless, here is this chapter now, and I'm so terribly sorry for making you wait so long!
This is the homecoming dance chapter! As I was proofreading the second half...I was listening to Good Girls Go Bad by Cobra Starship. Why? I don't know...but you could try it if you'd like...lol. :D
Chapter 7
There wasn't anything else truly exciting that happened in the weeks leading up to homecoming. The only thing that really stood out in my mind during that time period were the writing assignments we had in Miss Lovely's class. We got a new one every week, and each week Edward seemed to struggle with it more.
Don't get me wrong, Edward has good writing skills. He has such an immense understanding of the English language. He knows how to spell, how to word things, and his grammar is incredibly proper. It would have to be, knowing the way his dad speaks and all. Edward's writing downfall is the lack of connection to his writing. He writes something, and he reads it...but you can't really believe it, and you can't really feel it. It's especially hard to believe in his writing since he doesn't even believe in it. You can't help but admire the wording of whatever it is he's writing about, but It's just very hard to connect with something he writes.
Of course I think everyone was getting kind of sick of the assignments Miss Lovely was giving us. They were all really easy to tell you the truth. And each new assignment revolved around something happy. For one of the assignments, we had to draw pieces of paper out of a hat that had different happy moments in life on them, and that's what we had to write about. I had to write about "a first kiss"...ironically enough. Our assignments weren't the only overly happy thing either, anything we read, and anything else we worked on was super easy and had a very happy mood about it.
However, despite the continuously happy assignments, I really liked Miss Lovely and her class. I think she was very intelligent for being as young as she was. She knew a lot about the English language, and you could tell that she really wanted to help us kids understand it better as well. You could also tell that she felt really bad for Edward, like she just wanted him to be able to write something amazing. I can't blame her, because I understand the frustration of trying to get Edward to write something that seems so easy, and he just won't get it. She wants to understand why he can't write, and do anything she can to help him. She's tried, like many English teachers before her have done...but unlike them she didn't give up on Edward right away. She kept trying to help, even when it seemed like helping him was impossible.
Which it may be that writing could possibly be the one thing in this world Edward Cullen cannot totally rock at.
We won our homecoming football game by one touchdown in double overtime. Denver threw the winning touchdown pass to another teammate seconds before the game was over. Since he was viewed as the hero of the night, he declared there was a party at his house. Natasha, Haley, and I hung out at the party for a little while before we went to Natasha's house to stay the night. Natasha woke us up at five in the morning to start getting ready, and I swear...if she wasn't one of my best friends, and it wasn't illegal, I would have killed her.
I didn't require much preparation for the dance. I showered, put on my dress, really overdid it with the eyeliner, and fluffed my hair a little bit. I spent the rest of the day helping Natasha get ready, since she needed her hair curled, her nails done, etc. I was slightly aggravated when Natasha informed me I'd have to wear a tiara, but was a little happier when I discovered it was no where near as elaborate as her full-out crown. And she told me I could take it off once the actual dance got underway, so that pleased me.
We left her house shortly before five in the afternoon. The actual dance didn't start until seven, and the court didn't have to be there until six, but Natasha had some last-minute decorations she wanted to hang up. We were the only people at the school when we arrived, none of the teachers were even there yet. Thank goodness Natasha had her keys to the school so that we could get in.
Yes Natasha has keys to the school. Why wouldn't she...she practically lives there.
"It is freezing out here!" Haley exclaimed as we finished unloading the last box from Natasha's trunk.
"It's like sixty degrees Haley." Natasha said.
"Yeah you have no room to talk, you're wearing a jacket!"
"Maybe you should have worn a jacket as well."
"Nah, it would throw off my outfit."
We both laughed at her. Haley had made her own dress for the dance, of course. It was a bright metallic silver dress, and it was fairly short in length. The top part was black, but the bottom part that was silver had different colored feathers all down the dress. She had a matching black feathered headpiece stuck to the side of her head, and I was pretty sure she was wearing bright purple eye shadow.
I couldn't really argue with Haley, it was a little cold outside. Of course, I had neglected in bringing a jacket as well.
"Ok, we need to take these boxes to the gym." Natasha said, pointing to the three boxes at our feet. "Bella can you handle that one closest to you?"
I attempted to lift the box she was talking about. It was heavy, but not too bad. "Yeah it should be ok."
"I'll take this one." She said, pointing to the largest box. "Haley get that one over there."
As we all proceeded to pick up our respective boxes and head into the school, we heard a car pull into the parking lot. And what do you know, it was a silver Volvo.
All of us stopped what we were doing and starred at him walking in our direction. Seeing him walk our way was like watching him in the movies. He was wearing a black tux with a black dress shirt underneath and a dark green tie. The wind was blowing his jacket just slightly, and it appeared as though he was walking in slow motion.
"Good evening ladies." He said, standing across from me. "How are you tonight?"
"Fantastic." Natasha said, sighing dreamily.
"A little gassy, but other than that...pretty freaking good." Haley responded, not looking away from Edward.
"Fine until you showed up." I said.
Edward laughed. "I'm glad to see you're in a good mood Bella."
"You're here, how can I be in a good mood?"
"We're just gonna go ahead and go inside." Natasha said, motioning Haley to pick up her box as they headed towards the gym entrance.
"What are you doing here so early?" I asked him, practically ignoring the departure of my friends.
"I think the real question is what are you doing here so early?"
"Natasha wants to hang up some decorations."
"Didn't she do that yesterday?"
"She wanted to hang up more I guess."
He nodded his head. "Sounds like her."
"Yeah she's kind of stupid." I said, leaning against Natasha's car.
Then I felt something hit my face, and when I pulled it off of me to see what it was, I saw it was Edward's tux jacket.
"Why?" I asked, holding it up to him.
"Don't argue, just put it on." He instructed, and I did as he said. His jacket smelled just like him, it was amazing. It was a little big on me though, which prompted him to laugh.
"Shut up." I said, examining how long the sleeves were.
He still continued laughing. "I didn't say a word."
"For once."
"What are you implying Bella? That I like to talk?"
"I don't know why I would ever try to imply such a false statement." I said sarcastically.
He laughed again, picked up the box beside me, and started walking towards the entrance.
"I could have carried that myself you know." I said.
"Yes you could have, but you would have ended up hurting yourself."
"How?" I asked, helping prove his point as I tripped over thin air, which also sent him into a fit of hysteric laughter.
"I think you just answered your own question."
I opened the door for him, I really shouldn't have, but I did anyway. "So I'm clumsy...big deal. I'm sorry I'm not as perfect as you."
"Yeah...no one is as perfect as me. I'm pretty much a big deal."
"Your catch phrase is super annoying."
"Your face is super annoying." He fired back, placing his box down on the floor near the door.
"No, your face is super annoying."
"Your mom is super annoying." He said.
"Your writing is super annoying." I shot back, trying to think of more things about him that annoyed me. That was quite a long list.
"Your picking on my writing is super annoying."
"Your voice is super annoying."
"Everything about you is super annoying."
"Your girlfriend is super annoying!" I said, a little louder than the other things, which caused Natasha and Haley to turn and look at us.
"Ha, really Bella?" He asked. "Bringing Rose into this again?"
"Why not?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders. "Bringing her up seems to insult you quite well."
"You got that right." He whispered, thinking I couldn't hear him.
"What?" I asked.
"What?" He said in response, acting like he had no idea what I was talking about. Before I could say anything else he walked over to where Natasha was hanging up decorations. He asked her where she wanted the box we brought in, and she directed him over to the opposite corner of the room.
The four of us worked on the remaining decorations, and managed to finish before anyone else arrived. Around five thirty and approaching close to six, the teachers and other court members started showing up. A few random parents of members on the court were showing up too, but I made my mom promise to not show up until seven. I wasn't sure if she would actually listen to me or not.
Edward and I were sitting in the bleachers waiting for people to arrive. We kept pinching each other's arms like little kids would do. However no one else found this odd since they knew the way we acted around one another.
When Edward had pinched me really hard, I smacked him as hard as I could and he rubbed his arm...pretending like he was in great pain. I think he was fine, he was simply making it seem worse than it really was. Right after that, Denver, Kyle and Brandon walked our way and Edward stood up to do his handshake with them. Well, at least with Kyle and Denver. I examined the spot on my arm where he pinched me before I got up as well. I offered a sweet smile towards Brandon, which caused him to blush in embarrassment.
"So Cullen my man. When you have to dance with my girl...please keep it under control." Denver advised, but you could tell he was teasing.
"Don't worry Denver, I'm not going to try and steal Natasha from you." He said, looking at me. "I'm happily seeing Rosalie."
I noticed that Brandon kept looking at Edward, then me, then Edward again, and then me, like he was trying to figure something out.
"Brandon dude...what's up with you?" Denver asked, noticing him as well.
Brandon pointed at me and looked over at Edward. "Is that your jacket?"
Edward looked down at himself, noticing the absence of his tux jacket. "Yeah."
"Why is Bella wearing it?"
I wanted to laugh so bad, but I just decided to see what kind of crazy excuse Edward was gonna come up with.
"I was like...really hot because we were hanging up decorations." He said, pointing to the new decorations that were placed throughout the gym. "So I threw my jacket into the bleachers for the time being. Bella wasn't doing much work since she's clumsy and can't operate a ladder very well, so she was actually kind of cold. She asked me if she could wear my jacket and I told her sure, I'd just burn it later."
"Oh, I see." Brandon said, seeming relieved, and he walked away without another word. Kyle and Denver stuck around a little longer before they took off to go admire Natasha.
"You are full of freaking crap." I said to Edward, laughing a bit.
He smiled. "Why do you say that?"
"You were hot? I'm too clumsy to operate a ladder? You're gonna burn this jacket later? Couldn't you have just told Brandon you gave me your jacket to wear?"
"No I couldn't have." He said. "For one he would have beat me up, and two that wouldn't have been as fun of an explanation."
"You were hot? Really?"
"I was hot, am hot, and forever will be hot."
"You were a moron, are a moron, and forever will be a moron."
"That wasn't very nice now...was it Bella?" He asked, grinning at me.
"You should become a professional liar or something." I said, shaking my head in disgust.
"I am, it's called an actor."
"The weird thing is he bought it."
"Bella of course he bought it!" He exclaimed, looking at me like I was stupid or something. "For goodness sakes I'm Edward Cullen! I could have told him that hot pink rabid hippos came in the gym, held me at gun point, stole my jacket, gave it to you, and fled the state in a hot air balloon and he would have believed me! That's how good of an actor I am."
"I doubt he would have believed that." I said.
"Ha ya wanna bet? I lost my phone once when I was twelve, and my dad asked me where it was. I told him that I was outside watching these squirrels in the tree beside our house, and one of them ran down, grabbed my phone, and ran away with it."
"That's actually fairly believable." I said.
"Or just last year, I wasn't really supposed to go to this party one of my costars was having at their house because there was gonna be drinking there and stuff, and my parents just didn't want me around that stuff, but I went anyway. It's not like I was gonna drink or anything, but they still didn't want me to go."
"Yeah right."
"Yeah right what?"
"You didn't drink?"
"I didn't...now can I finish my story?"
I groaned and folded my arms across my chest. "Fine."
" Anyway, Alice was mad at me for telling dad she used his credit card to buy ten thousand dollars worth of makeup, so she came to the party and told mom and dad I was there. When I got home I put on this whole act like I had just woke up from unconsciousness. I convinced them that I was in the bathroom getting ready to go to Rose's, when I slipped on some grape soda Emmett spilled in there, fell...and passed out, suffered from temporary memory loss and completely forgot who I was. In this forgetfulness, I went to the party, but when I went outside and ran into the tree, my memory came back, and I came home." He smiled. "And to make sure I covered all my tracks, I told them there probably wasn't any kind of grape soda spill in my bathroom since Leo said his dog ran away from him, must have used his key to get in my room, and was licking up the spill on my bathroom floor."
"They bought that?"
"They bought that." He said, looking mighty proud of himself. "I'm awesome like that."
"Wow."
"Of course that's nothing." He said, leaning against the hand railing along the bleachers. "I've had to put on a lot bigger acts than that in my lifetime."
"Really?" I asked, handing him his jacket back. "Like what?"
He didn't say anything, he just looked down at the ground and shrugged his jacket back on. "Nothing really." He finally said, before walking away.
I didn't get him sometimes. He could be so extremely happy one second, and the next...he'd almost slip into some sort of depressed state. It was odd. Then it would only take a little while, and he'd bounce back and recover.
There was something to Edward Cullen that I believed no one else really knew about, I wasn't sure what it was, but I had to find out.
In the meantime, the dance was close to underway.
Edward seemed to recover quickly. How did I know this? He was trying to draw on me with the permanent marker he kept in his pocket. Thank goodness he didn't succeed, or I would have had to hurt him.
My being on the homecoming court and also being one of the clumsiest people in the world is a recipe for embarrassment. I tripped a total of three times, and my tiara fell off of my head. To add to the uncomfortable situation, Brandon was clinging onto my arm really tight, like he was afraid someone would take me away from him if he didn't keep a hold of me.
After the parents took about a thousand pictures of us, the court had to go out and start the first dance. Gosh Brandon was so excited to be dancing with me I swore he probably wet himself. Edward and Natasha weren't dancing too far away from us, and Denver was trying to keep in close proximity.
Once my eyes drifted over to Edward and Natasha, Edward's eyes caught mine. As soon as he saw he had my attention, he leaned in towards Natasha and whispered something. Then he looked up at me and whispered something to her again, like he was just trying to make me mad.
Heck I figured two could play that game, so I tried to direct Brandon closer to the two of them before I decided to give Edward a taste of his own medicine.
I looked over at Edward, and he was looking at me, so once I was sure he wouldn't look away...I pulled myself closer to Brandon and wrapped my arms tighter around his neck.
"You look very handsome tonight Brandon...you know?" I said, trying not to push it too far. I didn't want to get his hopes up or anything.
"Really?" He asked, blushing again. "You look pretty good too."
At that moment Edward pulled Natasha a little closer to him as well, but I knew he wasn't going to take this as far as I was going to.
I raised one of my hands and gently rested it on Brandon's face. "I'm so glad you got to be paired with me."
"Me too Bella, me too." Brandon said, looking happier than a kid on Christmas morning.
I was just hoping the song would end soon so I didn't have to continue with this little charade. Luckily for me, it was over in a few more seconds, and then it was time for members of the court to dance with their parents.
My mom and I actually ended up dancing together, rather than me and Phil. Dad obviously didn't come, I swear he wouldn't have left Forks even if I was getting married or something. Not because he didn't love me, just because Forks was like his security blanket or something.
After my mom and I finished dancing together she found some friends of her and Phil's to go talk to. Everyone else's parents were filing out of the gym, and some of the kids had started to dance. I couldn't find Haley, Natasha, Denver, Kyle, Brandon, or anyone in the crowd, so I was pushing through people in search of familiar faces. In the process I threw my tiara into the bleachers beside Natasha's jacket.
"Bella!" I heard someone call behind me, and I turned around to see who it was.
"Esme!" I cried excitedly, hugging Edward's mother. "What are you doing here?"
"Well I couldn't miss Edward's senior homecoming, especially when he was the king!" She exclaimed. She looked me over after she released me from our embrace. "Goodness Bella you have grown into a very beautiful young woman in two years time."
I blushed. "Thanks. I don't really think so."
"Oh please, I always thought you were a beautiful girl." She said, smiling at me sweetly. "I just can't believe you guys are seniors. I mean Edward...my little baby boy...a senior!"
I couldn't help but laugh a little. Alice was Esme's youngest child, yet she seemed to treat Edward like he was the youngest. "Yeah it's defiantly a shock."
"Have you thought about what your doing when you get out of school?" She asked.
"Um, not a lot. I know I want to do something with English, whether I'm teaching it or writing it or whatever."
"Very nice." She said.
"Well Bella, I see you found my mom." I heard Edward say, and I turned around to notice that he had his arm wrapped around my shoulders. He had taken his jacket and tie off, and rolled the sleeves up on his dress shirt.
"More like she found me." I said, not bothering to shrug his arm off of me.
"We were just talking about how grown up you kids are." Esme said, smiling at the two of us.
"Yep, it's so crazy to think I'm going to be nineteen in June." He said.
"Please don't remind me sweetheart." Esme said, almost looking as if she was going to cry.
Edward laughed a little and looked at me. "Does your mom act like this?"
"Not really." I said, laughing a little as well.
Esme seemed to pull herself together before refocusing her attention on Edward. "I was just telling Bella how beautiful she's became over the past two years...don't you agree sweetheart?"
I looked up at Edward with a devilish grin on my face.
He laughed awkwardly. "Ha, mom...mom, mom, mom, mom, mom. Shouldn't you be heading like...I don't know..home or something?"
"I wanted to say something to Bella's mom first." She said. "Bella where is your mom at?"
"Over there with Phil." I said, pointing toward the other end of the room.
"I'm going to go talk to her, and then I'll head home." She said to Edward, smiling at him. "I'll see you tonight dear."
"Alright mom." He said, smiling at her as well. "No one else came with you right?"
She shook her head. "Nope, I'm alone. Your dad was going to try and come, but he couldn't find the time off work."
"Ok." He said, walking away from me and over to his mom. He hugged her and said goodbye before he turned back to me. "What?" He asked.
"Momma's boy." I called, skipping away to join Haley, who I now saw standing by the refreshments.
"Hey Haley." I said, watching her as she starred intently at the punch bowl. "May I ask what you're looking at?"
"The punch."
"Yeah I gathered that, but what are you looking at in the punch?"
"The lack of feathers."
"There generally aren't feathers in punch Haley...ya know?"
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" She declared, as her voice rang throughout the room.
"You could rip a few feathers off of your dress and throw them in there."
"Are you kidding me! The punch is not worth ruining this valuable dress!"
"Haley that dress cost you less than twenty dollars to make."
"It's not the amount of money put into the dress that determines the value...but the amount of feathers presented on the dress that proves its worth."
"That makes perfect sense." I said, picking up a cookie and nibbling on it. The safest place for me to be during a dance was the snack table. The dance floor and I do not mix.
"This dress would be worth about ten tons of birdseed."
"So the value of the dress isn't determined in money, but in birdseed?"
"Of course." She said, like I should know this.
"I see. So when you have all those boutiques in New York and stuff, are you going to make your customers pay you in birdseed?"
"Nah, because birdseed doesn't buy anything in this society. It's about as ridiculous as no feathers in the punch."
"Of course." I said, when I suddenly jumped up in the air because I felt something cold slide down the back of my dress. I shook a little bit and an ice cube fell out of my dress and onto the floor. I heard someone laughing at me and didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.
"Haley, Edward just put a freaking ice cube down my back." I whispered to her.
"Sweet...was it cold?"
"Haley...it was an ice cube! Of course it was cold!"
"He could have melted it with his hotness!"
"Sure he could have." I said, looking over at him. He was hanging out with his friends in the opposite corner of the room. "I'm gonna beat him at his own game." I said, taking a hand full of ice out of the punch bowl and shaking my hand to remove some of the excess punch.
"Get me some coleslaw while you're at it...mkay girlfriend?" Haley called after me.
This comment required me to stop in the middle of the dance floor and look at her like she was stupid. "Haley...I'm not going to KFC or anything...I'm walking across the gym."
"I promise I haven't been drinking tonight, it's just Pixie Sticks." She said with a huge grin on her face.
I shook my head and walked away.
"Love you!" She called.
"Love you too." I said, not bothering to look back at her. Once I approached Edward his friends stopped their conversation with him.
"Well hello Bella." He said, taking a step forward.
"Edward...do you enjoy shoving ice cubes down my back or what?"
"What makes you think I did that?"
"Maybe because you're the only person in this room that hates my guts."
"Ha, I doubt that."
"That really, really hates my guts."
"You looked a little hot, I thought I'd help cool you off." He said with an evil grin.
I showed him my handful of ice cubes.
"Oh my gosh...what are you gonna do...throw them at me?"
"Nope." I said, yanking off someone's hat beside me and placing the ice cubes in them. Edward and all his friends offered me many confused expressions.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
I didn't respond, instead I shoved the hat down on his head. "You look a little hot-headed...thought I'd cool you down." I said, offering him my best evil grin before running away.
The look on his face was priceless as I walked away to rejoin Haley at the snack table. He made his way over to the DJ booth and took the mic.
"Hey does anyone in here happen to have a hair dryer on them?" He asked.
"I do!" One girl called, running up to Edward and handing him her hairdryer.
I was laughing at him, and he obviously saw me, because that dumb grin spread across his face again.
"Oh and one more thing, Bella Swan is eighteen and has still never been kissed before. Thank you." He declared before literally running to the bathroom. Good thing to, or I would have really hurt him.
He returned a few minutes later and retreated to his safe haven of friends. Haley and I remained by the snack table while she continued to ponder why there weren't any feathers in the punch. I was growing quite bored actually, and was debating about going home early.
However, things spiced up a little bit when I swore I felt someone grab my butt. I turned to Haley because I thought maybe she had done it to be stupid, but when I heard Edward laughing somewhere nearby, I knew who the real culprit was.
"Did he just grab my butt?" I asked Haley, rubbing my butt as Edward and his friends seemed to be laughing at me.
"Yes, yes he did. Bella girl he wants your body!" She screamed.
"Shush Haley! Not so loud!" I looked back at Edward and his friends. They were still laughing at me. "What do I do?"
"Do what I would do. Grab his butt back."
"What?" I asked in shock.
"Yeah, he'd never expect it from you. And you'd really enjoy it."
"As true as that may be, that would be pushing it a little far don't you think?"
"Nope." She said, smiling.
I looked over at Edward. "Ok...I'll do it." I said, taking a deep breath and trying to nonchalantly walk in that direction. I waited for a little while until Edward was facing away from me, then I quickly ran up behind him and grabbed his butt, and tried my best to run away before he saw me. He didn't turn around to look at me until I was almost half way back to Haley, but you could tell he knew it was me. He didn't say anything though and just continued talking to his friends.
Haley and I passed some time by going into the art room so she could find some feathers. She took a few of them out of this box, and the two of us ran down the hall leading back into the gym. Haley threw the feathers we got into the punch bowl, and after she did that, she was quite pleased with herself.
"It looks so pretty doesn't it Bella?"
"Oh yeah Haley, I'd so pay fifty tons of birdseed for that bowl of punch."
She looked at me with a happy expression on her face. "You would?"
"Totally." I said, folding my arms across my chest. It was at that point in time that Haley got a huge grin on her face.
"What?" I asked her, trying to understand why she was smiling.
She pointed behind me. "Turn around."
I did as she said, only to discover Edward was standing right behind me.
"Edward...gosh you scared me." I said, since I really wasn't expecting him to be there. "What do you want?"
He smiled and placed one hand on the snack table. "Dance with me." He said.
Just the way he said those three words sent my heart racing. It's not like he came up to me and asked if I would like to dance, he just simply stated it. And the way he said it, with his gorgeous velvet voice was wonderful enough.
"Is that a request or a demand?" I asked him. "It sounded more like a demand to me."
"It doesn't matter what it sounded like, you're dancing with me." He said, taking my hand and dragging me out to the exact center of the dance floor. We passed Brandon on our way there, and I could tell he didn't look very happy.
Edward didn't say anything else as he placed his hands on my waist. I awkwardly wrapped my arms around his neck, and tried to avoid looking right at him.
He laughed a little. "See this isn't so bad...is it?"
"That's what you think."
"Most girls would kill to be in the position you're in right now. You're quite lucky."
"Why don't I feel lucky then?" I asked, allowing myself to look at him.
"Bella, Bella, Bella. You are at your senior homecoming, dancing with Edward Cullen. I would say you're pretty lucky."
"I just see this situation as my being thrown into even deeper embarrassment."
"Dancing with me is embarrassing?"
"Not necessarily dancing with you, but dancing in general."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, I'm so clumsy I can't operate a ladder."
He laughed. "You seem to be doing quite fine."
"Yeah I bet you've had professional dance lessons or something."
"No, this talent just comes naturally." He said. "Like all of my talents do."
"Aren't you perfect?"
"Yes, yes I am."
I laughed a little, tightening my arms around his neck, which pulled me slightly closer to him. "Why are you so full of yourself?"
"Bella...have you ever looked at me?"
"Nope, never in my life have I ever set my eyes on you."
He laughed. "I think that would be reason enough."
"So you're full of yourself because your good looking?"
"Well that's not the only reason, but it's most of it, yes."
"That's really weird you know?"
"What's weird?"
"To love yourself so much. Most people at least hate one thing about themselves, or they have a little bit of a self confidence issue. But you don't...you love everything about you."
"There's not really anything to hate." He said."Like you told me, I'm perfect."
"It's still weird though. Like Natasha for example...she's one of the most beautiful girls I know, but she thinks her legs are too long, and her hair is too blah...she thinks she has flaws..you don't."
"How can I think I have flaws that don't exist?" He said with a smile.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I dunno."
"What flaws do you think you have?" He asked.
"Gosh Edward don't even get me started."
"Is it a long list?"
"A very long list."
"Tell me a few."
I sighed. "I'm way too pale, I'm not muscular enough, I'm too clumsy, my hair always looks like crap, I have a temper sometimes, and I'm just flat out ugly."
"Really? Are you sure about all of that?"
"Yes...I am."
"Why?"
"Well...Edward." I said finding myself getting closer to him again. "I've never had a real boyfriend for one. I obviously must be ugly if that's the case."
"Not necessarily." He said, resting his forehead on mine. "Maybe there's a guy out there that really likes you, but he doesn't want to say anything to you about it since you have such strict regulations and all."
"Who are you talking about? Brandon?"
He laughed slightly. "Well, I don't think Brandon cares about your regulations. He just flat out likes you."
"Yeah and if looks could kill, you would so be dead right now." I said, and we both turned to look at Brandon who was starring at us intently.
"He's got some issues." He said, resting his head against mine again.
"Edward...whatever happened between you two?"
He sighed. "I don't know really. I think it's kind of odd that he doesn't want to have any kind of contact with me at all, since we were such good friends and all. Maybe he's still mad about how I left and didn't really give anyone any warning."
"Could it have something to do with jealousy?"
"Sure, Brandon's always been jealous of me. He was always number two, and I was number one. I had more money, more popularity, more girls that wanted to date me, a nicer car, better grades, etc."
"No, I mean do you think he's jealous of how much time you spend with me?"
He was quiet for a moment. "That's quite likely. I don't know why he would be..but it could be likely."
"What do you think about all that?" I asked him, starring into his amazing green eyes. I was getting lost in them again.
"About him being jealous of how much time I spend with you?"
"Yeah, about that."
He smiled his gorgeous smile. "He's just going to have to deal with it."
"Why's that?"
"Because I'm not going to spend any less time with you." He barely whispered, and I realized for the first time how really close we were to one another now. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I leaned in closer to him.
He obviously had the same idea as I did, because I felt our noses touch, and then the sensation of his lips barely brushing mine. My mind was racing with so many different thoughts, but the only thing I was really thinking about intently was how I wished nothing would interrupt this moment.
"No need to fear...the party's here!" Someone yelled really loud all of a sudden, and the moment was ruined. Edward and I both turned toward the gym entrance at the same time to see who had just spoke.
"Fantastic." Edward whispered, seeing who was there.
Edward's brother Emmett was standing in the doorway, wearing a old cut-off t-shirt and a pair of ripped up jeans.
He shook his head in disgust, but he was smiling. "Come on Bella, let's go greet my idiot of a brother."
"Ok." I said, having not fully recovered from our near kiss.
When we approached Emmett he wrapped Edward up in a tight hug. Then he saw me and about went ballistic.
"Bella!" He yelled, hugging me tight. "I missed you girl!"
"I missed you too Emmett." I choked out as he released me. Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
"Emmett, may I ask what you're doing here? Mom said she came alone."
"Mom did, she doesn't know I'm here. I just thought...why not come back to Phoenix High and see my brother be the king of his homecoming dance?"
"Thanks Emmett, you picked a great time to visit...real great time...couldn't have been better even if you had shown up five minutes later." Edward rambled, and I looked up at him.
"Do I detect the fact that you don't want me here?" Emmett asked.
"No Emmett, I'm glad your here. I just don't understand why I guess."
"I was getting bored at home."
"You could have went over to Rose's and harassed her a bit."
"I did that a lot this week." He said, looking pleased with himself.
"What?" I asked, looking at the two of them for an explanation.
"Emmett has a thing for Rosalie." Edward told me. "He flirts with her constantly. She hates it."
"She's my true love." Emmett said, seeing someone across the room that he knew and taking off in a dead sprint.
"He's drunk isn't he?" I asked.
"When is Emmett not drunk?" Edward said, leading me back out onto the dance floor.
"So Emmett likes your girlfriend, and that doesn't bother you?"
"No." He said, placing his hands on my waist again. "She hates him...so I have no reason to worry there. Besides, Emmett's basically harmless."
I simply laughed and found myself resting my head on Edward's chest. The dance was coming close to an end, and the last few songs were starting to play.
"Does your family visit much?" I asked after a while.
"Yeah, quite a bit. Mom comes every couple of weeks or so. Emmett's been up here a few times too. Alice and Dad haven't found the time to come yet though, with school and work and all."
"Does Rosalie come?" I asked.
"No, she's um...busy with filming."
I lifted my head up a bit to look him in the eye. "Filming or sleeping around?"
He shook his head and sighed. "Both probably."
"And doesn't that bother you?"
"Of course it does." He said, resting his chin on the top of my head. "But she's gonna do it whether she's with me or someone else, so what's the use?"
"May I ask why you even stick with her after everything she's done to you?"
He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. "Love is blind I guess."
"You love her?" I asked.
"Yes, I do." He said, and neither one of us spoke for a while after that.
"I think you're stupid to tell you the truth." I said, breaking the silence.
He actually laughed a bit. "Wow, you've never told me that before."
I smacked his chest lightly. "Shut up, this is a serious matter."
"Ok, I'm sorry. Please tell me why I'm stupid."
"You're just stupid for sticking with her. I mean even if you do love her...why stay with her?"
"Maybe because I keep hoping that she's going to change?"
"Edward I hate to break it to you, but she's not going to change."
"You're not the only person that's told me that."
"I'm not surprised." I said. "Look, I know you said that you love her, but do you think she loves you?"
"Well, she says she does, but yet again...she is an actress."
"So you think she doesn't love you?"
"Yeah, I do."
I shook my head. "I don't understand you."
"Why don't you understand me?"
"I guess I just don't understand why you'd stay with her after everything she has done to you."
"I'm stupid I guess." He said with a smile as the last song ended. Everyone rushed to gather up their jackets and other belongings, and dashed out of the gym entrance all at once. I walked with Edward over to the entrance, even though I was going to stay at the school and help Natasha tear down decorations.
"So what are you going to do tonight now that the dance is over?" I asked him.
"Denver's having another party at his house tonight. I think I'll stop there for a little while and then head home to get some sleep. I'll probably do something with mom and Emmett tomorrow. What about you?"
"Well I'm gonna stay here and help Natasha tear down, and then her and Haley are coming to stay at my house. We were gonna go to the mall or something tomorrow."
"Sounds fun." He said, handing his jacket to me.
"What is this for?"
"Well it's even colder outside now, and you're not wearing as much as me. I think you need it more."
I laughed as I shrugged his jacket on. "Is this like our jacket or something?"
"Sure, think whatever you'd like." He said, placing both hands on the wall behind me so that he could lean over me. "You know, that dress didn't turn out looking too bad."
"What do you mean?" I asked as I smiled at him.
"It looks really nice on you." He said, smiling at me as well.
"Edward that may be the nicest thing that you have ever said to me."
"Wow, if that's the nicest thing I've ever said to you, I must be really mean."
I laughed. "You are actually."
He leaned in closer to me and didn't bother addressing that issue further. "Goodnight Bella."
"Goodnight Edward." I said, closing my eyes again as I felt his breath fan softly against my face.
This time was the same as the others, it seemed like time passed very slowly until I'd feel his lips brush against mine, but this time I really thought we were going to kiss. However, we didn't...because all of a sudden, Haley took my hand, dragged me away from Edward, and started babbling about how awesome it was she'd get to keep the feathers she threw in the punch.
In my shock of suddenly being drug away from almost kissing Edward, I looked back and saw him getting ready to leave the gym. He just kind of laughed at me before Denver came over to him and jumped up in the air, and him and the rest of his friends left the room.
I still hadn't recovered when Haley, Natasha and I left, and I was still in a bit of shock as we got ready for bed. I had already yelled at Haley for her interruption, but I wasn't really mad at her, because she's Haley and she just doesn't know any better.
I was the last one out of the three of us to fall asleep, which wasn't totally unusual since that was normally the case. But that particular night I had so many thoughts rushing through my mind, it was about driving me insane.
I had seen two different sides to Edward all in one night. The usual side of him, which was his joking, playful, annoying self. Then the other side was a different one that I had never really seen before until he came back from LA. It was a sadder side, that seemed to be brought out by the mention of certain topics, and it was kind of peculiar. He was teasing me one second, and the next second he was super nice to me.
I was also deeply affected by the two near kisses I had experienced that night. I wasn't sure why we both kept trying to kiss one another. I knew I wanted to kiss him, but I was certain he didn't want to kiss me...he loved Rosalie...he even said so.
Edward was hard to understand, that's for sure. That's why it was so much easier to hate him instead of love him. Loving him makes me so confused.
Hating him is actually sort of fun.
So what did you guys think? I hoped you enjoyed it! Sorry if everything seemed a little rushed, I was trying to fit a lot of stuff in one chapter! If you thought this chapter lacked humor, don't worry...the next one will have plenty! I will try and get an update up sooner next time, but if I don't it's due to my crazy life, lol.
If you would like to see what Haley's dress, and Natasha and Bella's crowns look like...I have links on my page for you to look at. :)
Thank you for reading!
~Hazl~
