I do not own Twilight or its characters. Stephenie Meyer does.
CH. 10. Project (BPOV)
On Tuesday, we were in Biology with Edward when he started to talk to me.
"So, Carlisle talked to me before school. He seemed to believe that you can speak." He muttered in a low voice as we worked on a lab together. I looked over at him where he smiling warmly at me.
I nodded enthusiastically feeling a big grin break out on my face.
Carlisle suggested that you might be able to help me learn to talk. I bit my lip as I looked at him shyly.
"It's not something that I've tried to do before. But I am willing to give it a shot. Now why don't you want to tell Emmett?" he asked.
I want to surprise him if I am able to succeed in this. If I can't, I don't want to disappoint him. I answered him. I was starting to feel doubtful, again.
"I'm sure you're not going to disappoint him, either way. At least, you're going to try. That is something in itself," Edward whispered quietly sensing my mood. "Besides from what I have seen from Carlisle I think the odds are in your favor." He took a stray lock of my hair and moved it behind my ear.
We worked through the rest of the lab fairly fast, then watched as the rest of the class struggled with it. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Edward chuckle under his breath as he watched Mike who was looking very confused with the lab.
Edward and I head towards the door as soon as the bell rings. We walked silently, side by side, towards the gym. When we get to the door Edward spoke up. I looked up at him seeing his hair get even more tousled in the light breeze. I resisted the urge to run my fingers through it.
"I know a private place we can go to, where no one will follow us. Would you like to start today?" I nodded in agreement giving him a smile. He gave me his crooked grin before speaking again.
"I will meet you after school in the parking lot, don't leave without me," he teased then winked at me. He turned and walked away towards his class, feeling a sense of longing as I watched him.
After school, I waited by my bike for Edward. He came out with Bear close behind him. They both smile when they see me. I gave them a casual wave.
When they got to the car, Edward threw his bag in the back of his Volvo, then tossed Emmett his keys. Bear looked confusingly at them in his hands.
"You're not going home with us?" he asked as he narrowed his eyes as Edward approached me.
"No, I am working on a project with Bella," Edward answered him. The others arrived at the car at this point, looking interested at the conversation. I noticed Jasper looked concerned when he glanced at Emmett.
"Why can't you and Baby Doll work on it back at our house?" Emmett crossed his arms over his chest. Rose came up and placed a hand on his arm and he calmed down slightly.
Because we don't want to be constantly interrupted. I answered. It was unfair of Bear to just integrate Edward. What was Bear's problem lately? Edward is his brother, I thought they got along. I hope I wasn't the one causing problems.
I will see you guys at school tomorrow. I headed over to my bike.
"I'll see everyone later, too," Edward told them as he joins me. "So, since Jazz and Em got to drive your bike, can I?" Edward asked shyly. I cock my head to the side as if I was deliberating it.
Okay I guess so. It is probably better since you already have a place in mind. I hand over my keys. I waited until he climbed on then I hopped on the back and wrapped my arms around his waist. My hands tingle as I feel the firm hard muscles under my hands. Edward kicked starts the engine and we drove away from the school.
He headed North for a bit and stopped where it appears the road ends. He cut the engine and we both got off the bike. I glanced around and saw only a trail.
Are you taking me off to the middle of nowhere to kill me? I joked.
"Now, if I was going to do that, why would I let the others see me leave with you?" He smirked back.
Good point. I started to head to the trail, Edwards arms shot out and stopped me.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
To the trail? I questioned.
"Silly, Bella, we don't need a trail. We are vampires, plus, where we want to go is this way." He headed off into another direction. I turned and followed.
He started running and I kept pace. I pulled my hair from its ponytail so I could feel the breeze run through my hair. I noticed Edward was very fast and stayed ahead of me easily. He reached a clearing just before I do.
You're fast! I compliment him.
"You're too. I haven't met any one that can keep up with me like that." He smiled back.
I wasn't keeping up you, you were ahead of me. I admitted.
"Yes, however, I tend to leave the others in the dust. You weren't that far behind me." He walked to the center of a meadow.
I looked around a meadow that is circular and surrounded by trees with a stream running through it.
"I like to come here for peace and quiet. No one comes here, so I can escape all the voices in my head and just hear myself think for once. It's a shame that it's almost winter. This place is full of flowers in the spring thru the early fall." His velvety voice calls to me. I walked over to him. We both take a seat on the grass.
I looked over at him expectantly. He ran a hand through his hair, before speaking again.
"So have you tried to make sounds or talk on your own yet?" He asks, I shook my head in response.
No, just what Carlisle had me do for him? I have been too nervous to try.
"Don't be nervous. It takes babies a year or so to talk. Some earlier, others later, being a vampire I am sure the process will go much faster." He smiled encouragingly. "You're hissing and growling is what peaked Carlisle's interest that you could be vocal. So why don't we start there."
I hiss for him.
"Now try just, 'S', instead of dragging it out." he instructs.
"Sss" I tried dragging it out a little. "S". I smiled when I was able to accomplish it.
"Very good, Bella." Edward smiled at me. "Now, we can work on other letters one by one. Watch my mouth as I say the letter. Then, you try. I will warn you ahead of time that the letters that give people the most trouble are, T, G, K, L, R and S. But you already accomplished the S, so no worries there. But it will probably be different since vampires learn fast. We will start in order if that's okay with you." He paused to gauge my reaction. I nodded enthusiastically.
"Okay, 'A', aaaaaaaaa, 'A'," he started off annunciating carefully and slowly. I watched his mouth carefully for the movements of his lips and tongue.
"Aaaaaaaaa, 'A'," I smiled again.
We continued on through of the alphabet, taking one letter at a time. A few times I stumbled with a letter, but Edward was very patient. Several times, I would get entranced watching the movements of his mouth. Luckily for me, Edward seemed to think it was because I was struggling with the letter.
Overall, the first day went well. We spent Thursday practicing as well. I was now able to say simple words. This was beyond my wildest dreams. Well, sort of anyways, my daydreams recently have been staring my tutor, but he wasn't teaching me to speak. I argued with myself that it was okay to fantasize about him. I knew deep down nothing could ever happen. I wouldn't want to cause Edward any harm.
Besides, why would he want someone like me anyways? He was incredibly handsome, smart, sweet, caring, funny and I could go on and on. I was just learning to speak at the age of 88yrs old. I've never been to college. I was plain looking for a vampire. Not too mention I have been running for the last 70yrs from someone who wouldn't hesitate to kill my loved ones.
So I'll keep my fantasies.
Still, I wonder, as great a guy Edward is, why he hadn't found a mate yet. I knew girls found him attractive. He never seemedto notice them though.
We didn't practice everyday because we didn't want to alert Bear that we were up to anything. He seemed very suspicious if the two of us were going off alone anywhere. So Edward was coming over to my apartment on Sunday. None of the others knew where I lived, so we figured it would be a rather safe setting.
I was just finishing answers to a couple of e-mails when there was a knock on the door.
I opened the door to let him in.
"Hi," I both signed and spoke at the same time. It was something Edward suggested, that way if I was struggling with the word he could help me.
"Hello, Bella. How is your weekend going?" Edward gave me his crooked smile.
"Mine is going okay. How is yours" I asked.
"It has been relatively quiet. I spent most of my time yesterday playing the piano." Edward answered.
"The piano at the house is yours then?" I questioned, remembering seeing the baby grand piano.
"Yes, it is." Edward smiled then glance around the apartment, taking in the sparse setting. He frowned a bit, but didn't say anything. I started to feel self-conscious about my apartment, it was nothing in comparison to the Cullen's home.
"I know it isn't much," I bit my lip and struggle with my words a tiny bit because of my lack of confidence.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to judge." Edward looked a little sheepish and ran his hand through his hair. "Here. I though you might want to try something more challenging today. I know you can read, but some of these words can be challenging." Edward handed me a book. I looked at the cover and frowned.
"This is a kid's book." I tried to hand him the book back, slightly insulted.
"Yes, and no. This is a Dr. Seuss book. He tends to come up with sentences and a bunch of made up words that can be tongue tying." Edward sat on my couch ignoring the fact that I was trying to hand the book back. "Humor me, Bella," he pleaded, giving me a puppy dog look. I huffed then sat next to him on the couch. He threw his arm over the back of the couch behind me and I started to read out loud.
I could see that Edward was right. The way the book was written made it easy to trip over the words. I read out loud carefully and I managed not to trip too badly. I smiled smugly and smacked the book into Edward chest when I was done.
"Oomph. Alright, you proved me wrong. I think it's easy to say you don't need my help anymore." he groaned theatrically. I giggled and he shook his head smirking.
"Thank you, Edward," I paused for a second, then made a quick decision. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. I felt a warm tingling feeling as my lips touched his skin.
"Your welcome, Bella," Edward's eye looked darker and a bit dazed. We sat there looking at each other for a second.
"Umm, so when are you going to show the others you can speak?" Edward finally broke the silence.
"Christmas is in a couple of weeks. I thought I could surprise him Christmas Day." I announced shyly.
"You're going to wait that long?" Edward raised an eyebrow.
"Bear hasn't heard me speak in over 88 years. I think he can wait another two weeks. Especially since he doesn't know he is missing anything." I smiled.
"Why do you call him Bear? How did he get that nickname?" Edward asked. I freeze, my good mood vanished. "You don't have to tell me, if it is too personal." Edward now looked uncomfortable.
"No, it's okay. It is just not the happiest of stories." I sighed, then launched into the explanation. When it gets to difficult to speak, I revert back to sign language. When I finish, I stay looking at my hands resting in my lap. Edward was quiet. When I finally got enough courage to look at his face, he appeared murderous.
"Edward?" I asked hesitantly.
"What happen to those boys?" he growled.
"Nothing, really. They basically got off, too young to be charged with anything. So it was looked at as boys will be boys." I sigh. I could hear Edward grind his teeth as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"That isn't right. It does explain why Emmett is so protective of you, though." Edward sighed.
"Emmett is definitely the best big brother I could have asked for." I smiled fondly.
"So, why does he call you Baby Doll then?" Edward asked changing the subject.
"If I told you that, then I would have to kill you?" I told him as seriously as I could muster.
"Hmmm, maybe I just need to ask Em then." Edward smiled innocently. I rolled my eyes. I glanced at the clock and realized it was getting late.
"Do you mind if we call it quits for the day? I want to hunt before school tomorrow." I asked.
"That's fine by me. I should hunt too, mind if I join you?" he asked politely standing up and offering a hand to help me up. It never seems to fail whenever Edward and I had skin to skin contact I felt this spark. I let go of his hand reluctantly.
"Okay, but no stealing my lion this time." I smirked.
"I didn't steal your lion. How do you know I didn't see it first?" he cocked an eyebrow at me. I rolled my eyes and head out of the apartment with Edward following close behind me.
A/N: I got the letters that gives some difficulty saying from ehow when I looked up speech therapy ideas. I am not a speech therapist the ideas I got were from the research on the internet as experience teaching my own kids to talk. The Dr. Seuss book I was mainly was thinking of was If I Ran the Circus, both my husband and I get tongue tied on that one when reading it out loud. My husband is swearing revenge to our friend who gave it to our kids. If you forgotten the back story on why he is called 'Bear' it was in chapter 2.
Thank you for all reviews!
Sneak Peak: (E POV)
"Bella, stop." I yell and grab her arm just in time. She turns startled. Before I can explain, I hear growling and awful stench. I quickly maneuver Bella behind me and getting into a crouch.