Author's Note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Chapter 10

To my disbelief, it started raining during sixth period. Hard.

The weather had been weird today, and I shouldn't have been surprised. The clouds had been gray and stormy, and I'd thought rain was on the way. Still, I'd expected it to come after school ended.

What a way to ruin your good mood when your winter break was right in front of your nose.

What bothered me the most was that I'd parked too far away today. My last period was in the furthest building from the parking lot. I was so screwed. I hadn't even thought to bring an umbrella. Stupid me, as usual.

I stayed behind to talk to the teacher after the bell rang, hoping the rain would slow. But no luck. It just came down harder. Finally, I resigned myself to running through the rain.

After a trip to my locker, I stood outside, under the building shelter, looking out into the rain. Most cars were gone, except for a few. I saw mine about one hundred yards away.

And the rain just came down harder.

Sighing, I raised my carry-on item – a binder – over my head, and ran. Luckily, the ground hadn't held up a lot of water, so my feet didn't get too wet.

Still, there was my clumsiness to worry about. And when it rained, I tended to get more nervous about my coordination, which, naturally, led to more tripping and falling.

I still had a long way to go when I slipped. I knew I was going to fall, and I braced myself. But my bottom never touched the cold, wet ground. Instead, someone wrapped their arm around my waist firmly and steadied me.

I blinked rapidly, trying to blink the rainwater out of my eyes. I noticed a huge, black umbrella above me, shielding me from the rain.

Surprised, I looked to my left at my savior. Of course. My hero, as always.

Edward Cullen was staring at me with an unfathomable expression on his face. His hair was messier than usual, as though he'd been running his fingers through them for the last hour constantly, but it looked really good on him. His beautiful emerald green eyes were piercing and charismatic, but somehow, there was gentleness in it too.

Unable to speak, I stared back at him, still blinking in shock. Why was it that this boy appeared out of nowhere whenever I was in trouble? I mean, not that I was complaining…

As I got lost in his deep green eyes, I began to notice other things. Like how warm and comfortable my body felt when I was leaning against his. How perfectly my body shape fit into his, like a puzzle. How tightly he was grabbing onto me unnecessarily. How dazed he looked as he stared at me.

After what seemed like a million years, I was the first one to recover. Instead of leaning against him, I straightened up quickly, clearing my throat, embarrassed. Must he always be the one to experience my embarrassment all the time?

I avoided his gaze. I could feel the blush creeping up onto my cheeks. This was so embarrassing. It was humiliating.

Still, I didn't move. I waited for him to start teasing me. If I just left him here, then he would track me down after winter break and taunt me even more. In front of the whole school. I'd rather endure it now and get it over with.

"Are you okay?"

His voice surprised me. There was no hint of teasing whatsoever. He was sincerely asking me if I was fine. He sounded like he was really concerned about me. Like he cared.

I almost laughed out loud at the thought. Why would the most popular guy in school care anything about me? Right.

Don't be fooled, Bella, I told myself. This is just another one of his tricks. Trying to make a girl swoon. Well, it won't work on me.

Still, he had saved me, and I knew that thanking him was only polite.

"Yes," I said. "Thank you."

I could feel that my face was still hot. I refused to look at him and stared very hard at my car. It was just straight ahead. A few more yards, and I could be inside the safe shelter of my car. I considered making a run for it before he said anything more.

"Why were you out so late?"

I looked at him, confused.

Edward gave me a slight smile. "I was waiting for you."

He was waiting for me? Why would he wait for me?

"I told you I wanted to be friends with you, didn't I?" he pointed out, as though he had read my mind.

I looked away, scowling. "And I thought I told you that I wasn't interested in becoming a jock's toy?"

He sighed. "You're making this extremely hard. Do you not hear my sincerity, Bella?"

"Sincerity," I repeated. "Yes. I do hear it, actually."

"Then what's the problem?"

For the first time in my life, I looked away from my car and looked at the rain. Really looked at it.

It was hard to see because it came down so quickly. But I realized that the rain that I'd despised so much… It was beautiful.

There was no other sound in the parking lot except for the rain splattering down onto the concrete. But the sound that had been so annoyingly deafening before was music in my ears.

I took a small step away from him to reach out from the huge umbrella. I flinched slightly when the heavy rain splashed down onto my hand, the coldness shocking me slightly. I'd expected it, but it still made me start.

"People like you are just like the rain," I said quietly.

Edward cocked his head. "Jocks?"

"No," I corrected. "People like you. You're popular and you have this school pretty much wired, but I don't put you under the same category as your other friends. You're different, somehow. There's something about you that draws a thin line between them and you."

"I don't get what you're saying, Bella," Edward said gently.

I exhaled. "The rain…it's beautiful. It's beautiful and it's like music. Don't you think?"

He looked away from me and looked out into the parking lot, at the rain.

"But…it's cold. It can be annoying, and it can be tiresome. It can ruin the mood of some people, and sometimes, it can cause floods that sweep off everything that people care about."

Edward looked back at me, still bemused. He was wondering what I was getting at.

"And…" I hesitated, then plunged on. "It hurts." My hand closed into a loose fist, capturing the rainwater in the palm of my hand. "You expect pain when heavy rain splashes onto you. The iciness shocks you, even when you expect it."

I turned to face him. "It's like you. On the surface, you're handsome and sweet and your voice is like music. But you can be annoying and tiresome. You embarrass me constantly. And I'm sure that while you don't realize that you're doing it, you hurt people. And I'm afraid of that. People with as much power as you have don't know how to control it. I'll probably expect pain if I become your friend. I'll probably wait for that day, when you will hurt me. I'll try to brace myself, but in the end… I'll still be shocked and hurt by the pain."

Edward blinked at my analogy.

I smiled wryly. "I don't know why you want to be friends with me. But there's just something about you that bothers me. It's nothing bad. I'm just a cautious person. But those girls that are obsessed with you are willingly to be friends with you. Go play with them."

I turned back away and raised my binder over my head again. I began walking away again when his hand closed around my elbow. The umbrella was over me again.

His expression was hard this time. "I know myself pretty well. If I knew that I was going to hurt you, Bella, I would never even have started this. I wouldn't have bothered to save you each time you were in trouble. So even if you refuse to talk to me, I'll still try. You can't stop me from doing that."

I shot him an annoyed look. This guy just didn't get it, did he? He was quite tenacious and stubborn.

"Why can't you leave me alone?" I asked.

"Why can't you accept me?" he countered.

I studied him. I could tell that he really wanted to be friends with me. Why, though? I was nothing. I couldn't give him anything. He probably had everything.

"What do you want from me?" I asked slowly.

His lips twitched, and his eyes smoldered. He was smiling again, although it was tiny. "Your number."

"What?"

But he was already reaching into my jacket pocket, where my phone was sticking out slightly. He pulled it out and fiddled with it quickly while I stared at him, dumbfounded. What was he doing?

He paused, looking down at the screen, then returned it to me after three seconds. "Don't be surprised if you get a call from an unknown number."

I stared at him, my eyes wide. He grinned, then turned and walked away, leaving me behind in the rain.

When I got home, I changed into comfortable, dry clothes. There was no homework, as it was break, so I plopped down on my bed and took out my phone.

There was nothing different about it. I wondered what he'd been doing.

I shrugged, then tossed my phone next to me carelessly. I fell backward on my bed and closed my eyes, feeling the comfort underneath me.

He was one strange guy.

AN: What do you think Edward did? I think it was pretty obvious though. Reviews, please!