Bella POV
Jessica and Angela were surprised when I told them I'd be eating with Edward at lunch. They looked at each other once before me as if I had just told them we planned to eat them.
"Like, with his family?" Jessica said in her lower version of her bubbly voice.
"No just the two of us."
"Then it's a sort of date." Angela said.
"No not at all." I laughed at the silliness of that idea. "I just thought since he knows the outsider anthem and his family is kind of paired off, he may want company for a day. We sit next to each other in biology so I thought we could get to know each other a little." I was hoping that explanation placated them.
They looked at each other once again and Angela seemed to shrug it off, though Jessica seemed to still seem curious. The gossiper exactly.
"I guess we can spare you from lunch." Angela joked. "You should come with us to the beach this weekend though. It's obviously too cold for the water but we park Tyler's van in the sand and hang out some weekends." She explained.
"You have to come!" Jessica exclaimed as she shut her locker after grabbing her lunch bag.
"I'd like that. I'll check with my Dad, but I'm sure I could swing that."
"Good. It's over at First Beach on the Quileute Reservation in La Push." Angela, the practical one, gave hasty directions. "In case your Dad needs to know where you're going."
"I think he goes there a lot of weekends actually. He's good friends with a guy who lives on the Reservation. I think I even met his children when I was little, though I don't remember it. He just talks about them a lot."
"Maybe we'll see them there." Jessica said, though she no longer sounded interested. I followed her glance towards the entrance of the cafeteria where Mike was standing. I smiled at the thought of them. The two bubbly teens, destined for prom night necking.
"Well I'm going to go find Edward now. Do me a favor and tell Mike I'm sorry for hitting him with my pencil again."
"I'm starting to think your little accidents are going to be entertaining to be around." Angela joked and I smiled as I started away from them.
So what if I was having some weird moments with a boy I hardly knew, I was starting to finally have friends. I wouldn't get too worried about them understanding my odd ways. Instead I'd enjoy this.
I walked over to the line of food, and glanced around for Edward. He wasn't there, so I assumed he brought his own food and had already gotten us a table. I grabbed a sandwich, apple, bag of cookies, and juice, and went towards the tables to search.
He wasn't hard to find. He managed to stand out even in the smallest table in the far corner. I wondered if he was trying to keep us hidden. Something told me he wasn't shallow like that, but rather hiding himself alone. I hoped it was the ladder.
I walked over to the table and plopped down without grace. Sometimes I wished for it, but mostly I accepted I'd never be much of an ideal lady. "Hi." I said lightly, hoping to keep that mood present. I looked at his empty space and narrowed my eyes at him. "What's with the lack of food?"
He looked down as if he was surprised to see no lunch in front of him. "I had a big breakfast." He said, but it sounded like it was a question.
"See, I would have bought that if it wasn't for the fact that you didn't seem to eat yesterday either."
"Watching me were you?"
"Don't get cocky. I merely look out for eating disorders."
"Do I look like I have an eating disorder?" He challenged, and I found myself looking at him in more detail. He certainly looked fit. I wondered if he did some sort of exercising since it seemed he didn't do sports for the school.
"Not really, but my suspicions remain." I pushed my apple towards him.
"Are you one of those girls who can't eat unless others are as well?" He asked with a crooked smirk.
"Nope. I love eating. I can't exercise much due to my lack of equilibrium but I don't seem to gain, so I guess I inherited something good from my mother. Although even if I did blow up like a balloon, I doubt it would stop me. I love all the fatty foods far too much." I rambled and gulped when I realized he was sizing me up as I had done to him. "What?"
"Just admiring. You're an interesting creature." He absently twirled the apple by its stem.
"That makes me sound like a rare beetle, but alright." Our banter had calmed my qualms and I took another bite of my sandwich before launching into the reason why we were here. "So why is it you acted like you were hunting the rare Bella beetle yesterday in class?"
He managed to look grim and amused at the same time, yet he didn't deny my description. "That's complicated. I apologize if I frightened you though. It was in no way my intention."
I noticed he left out that there was no reason to be afraid. I didn't point it out though. Instead I reached for the cookies.
"You're supposed to finish the sandwich first customarily aren't you?" He said with a grin and I smirked.
"Why do you talk like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like you're in a play from Dickens."
His expression faltered a moment before he put it back into place. "I guess it's how I was raised."
I considered a moment. If that was the case, then why would he be on edge about it? "I'm going to cut right to the chase here. There are things about you that I can't understand. Why out of the blue yesterday you acted like…well I don't even know what that was. I'm not even sure you'd tell me. After all we're strangers; you have no reason to tell me anything." I stopped and looked at him again. He was tense, but there was something hopeful in his stare. "At the same time though, there is something here." I gestured between us. "Something I haven't felt before. I'd like to say it's just attraction since you're so pretty and all, but I don't know that that's it. I think it'd be simpler if it was. Correct me if I'm wrong."
He looked like he wrestled with that for an unbelievable amount of time, yet it only seemed to be a moment. When he was through he looked at me like he was studying me, or probing me for information, yet he said nothing. Then his face relaxed, whether with calm or resolve, I couldn't tell.
"There's something here." He said and met my eyes again. "I don't know what it is Bella. And I don't know how to answer your questions on what happened. It's complicated. I don't suppose you'll be happy with that answer."
"I'm happy to know I'm not crazy and didn't imagine it. And that I'm not a crazy Glenn Close type, seeing things that aren't there. I'm not happy that I don't know why I feel anything at all for you. I'm not happy that there's a secret involving me."
"What makes you say there is?" He asked warily.
"Because if it was just a secret involving you, you wouldn't feel guilty for not saying anything. But because you look guilty for not answering what happened yesterday, then I know it's something to do with both you and I. Which is something I have a right to know but I can hardly force it out of you. The look on your face now tells me I'm getting warmer though."
"You're awfully observant." He muttered and then sighed. "What now Bella?"
"I don't know." I polished off my lunch and fiddled with my juice box. "I was hoping I would by now, that there was some easy explanation for what's with you. There isn't though."
"Interesting way to word it. No there isn't."
"Thank you though."
Now he looked confused. "For what?"
"You could have lied to me and said I imagined it. You could have ignored me completely. It says a lot that you didn't. Especially since you're lying to everyone else here. The fact that I'm not included in that list must mean you like me a smidge." I picked at my finger nail as he gaped at me.
"Why do you think I'm lying to everyone else?"
"Because they hardly know a thing about you. You've been here almost four years and no one knows much but rumors and assumptions. You are careful around them. Always gauging their reactions to what you do. There's something being hidden. I have no clue what, but I can see what you're doing. It's like you're lying on the surface observing things."
"It seems like you're the one doing all the observing." He ran a hand through his hair. "You've only been here two days, what makes you see all of this."
I shrugged. "Weird recognizes weird, I guess."
Now he laughed fully. So fully, that others heard and turned. I realized this was a sound no one in the school had heard. Even his family looked surprised that Edward was laughing. That filled me with sadness. Was he even on guard with them?
What was he?
What was I for noticing this?
"Bella, what am I going to do with you?" He asked, and for the first time I noticed affection in his voice.
I smiled at him as the bell rang and I got my things. "You'll do nothing with me. Ball's in my court buddy, I get to decide what I'm going to do with you. See ya." I said, and had the great satisfaction of seeing true surprise spread over his face.
I'd break the walls down eventually and figure out what was there. Even if I didn't like what I saw, I was invested in this two day freak show we were running now.
Because as Edward agreed, something was there.
