The Tutor

Chapter 10 – Question & Answer

Just when Bella was beginning to think she was invisible to the mass population of Forks High, attention started to dribble her way. What first appeared as an accidental bumping into, turned into an introduction to Mike Newton and his "crew". Fifteen minutes into a very one-sided conversation, Bella realized that Mike thought she ought to feel privileged that he had graced her with his presence.

"So, I've seen you around, but I just hadn't gotten around to meeting you," Mike prattled. "I don't think we have any classes together."

"Nope." Bella looked around, a signal that she needed to get to her first class.

"What about sports? Thinking about going out for anything?" Mike went on.

"No. I'm not really into that." Bella frowned and shook her head.

"Huh…I would have figured you for a swimmer…or a gymnast." Mike grinned.

The warning bell sounded and Bella started backing away from him. "Nope. Neither of those…uh…well, I guess I'll see ya around."

"Yeah, okay. Table three at lunch. It's in the middle of the cafeteria." Mike called out to her.

The tables had table numbers? Bella wouldn't know. She'd never eaten inside of the cafeteria.

As she headed towards history, Bella wondered if the new shirt and jeans she was wearing made a statement about her that was attracting attention. That certainly hadn't been her intention when she'd bought them.

Mrs. Kenner was at her desk speaking with another student about an upcoming test when Bella entered the classroom. The seat she preferred to sit in was occupied, so Bella took a seat towards the middle of the classroom. In a matter of seconds another student came and sat down beside her. Bella thought nothing of it, until she saw that the student was Rosalie Hale. Immediately her heart rate increased.

"Hey." Rosalie looked over at Bella.

Bella gave a tentative glance to make sure Rosalie was talking to her. When she saw that she was, Bella offered a tight-lipped smile and a non-committal nod.

"So listen, I wanted to talk to you about something," Rosalie began. She paused long enough to wave over her dark-haired friend, a short girl who Bella remembered as a cheerleader at the last pep rally. "We had a little misunderstanding."

"About what?" Bella asked skeptically. She was pretty sure that this was going to end up with her being the butt of some sort of joke.

"Edward," Rosalie stated flatly. "He's a good friend of mine and I had heard a rumor that I thought you started."

"Why would you think that?" Bella interrupted.

"Someone told me," Rosalie waved away the question quickly. "Anyway, Edward and I have always kind of looked out for one another…so… I was just looking out for him that day I told you to stay away from him."

"Ah," Bella nodded as if she was going along with the story.

"But now that I know that you and Edward are friends…well, I guess it doesn't really matter."

"What doesn't really matter?" Bella was having trouble following Rosalie's logic. However, she steered away from confirming or denying her friendship status with Edward.

"What was said. I mean, since we're both friends with Edward." Rosalie stated. She looked like she was even trying to convince herself of what she was saying.

"Oh," Bella eyed her with caution.

"And, uh, this is Alice," Rosalie finally introduced the girl sitting to her right. Bella recognized her as Rosalie's sidekick.

Alice half-smiled at Bella before looking over at Rosalie. She looked like she had a million questions about what was going on. Me too, Alice. Me, too.

Bella turned her attention back to Mrs. Kenner at the front of the room, signaling that the discussion, if that's even what it was, was over.

Yep. It must be the new outfit.

********

Edward approached his English classroom as Bella was walking up from the other direction. Their eyes met at the same exact moment and Edward noticed that Bella almost smiled at him before she averted her eyes to the ground. He considered saying something to her but that jackass, Mike Newton, got in her face at that moment.

"Oh, hey, now I remember what I wanted to ask you earlier," Mike started. "My friend Chris is having a party. Since you don't really know many people here, I thought you might like to come."

Edward didn't bother sticking around for Bella's answer. He walked into the classroom and Miss Teale immediately bounded up to him.

"Edward! I just wanted to let you know how pleased I am with your progress. Also, we have a test coming up next week, and if you can keep this momentum with your homework and class assignments, you'll have no problem."

It was a small victory for Edward. It was nice to get a good report from a teacher, for once, but he knew there was no way he was going to pass that test next week. He and Bella had been working on the classwork together, as well as the homework. But Miss Teale definitely wasn't going to let them collaborate on a test. And what would it look like when he failed miserably? They'd probably think he'd cheated on everything else.

Cheating…Now there's an idea.

********

It was fish night at the Cullen home and Esme was tossing a green salad to go along with the halibut she'd just finished baking when Edward came into the kitchen from upstairs.

"Um, so is…are you guys really going to buy me a car if I pass this year?"

"That's what Dad said," Esme stated, addressing Carlisle in the manner in which Edward was trying to avoid.

The kitchen fell silent except for Esme's movements about the kitchen. In fact, Edward was so quiet that Esme had thought he'd gone until she glance over at the doorway of the kitchen and saw him still standing there. He looked as if he was wrestling with the idea of something. Esme didn't bother him, figuring he'd speak up when he was ready.

He did.

"Do you make all the arrangements for my tutoring? You and Bella?"

"Yes. Why?"

Edward ignored his mother's question and continued. "So, do I have to go through you if I needed to ask her a question?"

Esme softly laughed as she rolled her eyes. "Of course not, Edward. What's this about?"

"Nothing. I just don't have a way to get a hold of Bella…unless we're at school. I kind of wanted to ask her something."

"Her telephone number is on the bulletin board by the phone…it's the only telephone number posted there."

"Oh." Edward glanced to the bulletin board that hung over the phone table. "Yeah…so I might call her…later. Because I have to ask her something…" Edward trailed off. He stood in the kitchen awkwardly for a few more minutes before bounding back up the stairs.

Esme waited until she heard his bedroom door shut before she collapsed against the sink in quiet laughter. It was in this condition that her husband found her.

"Hitting the cooking wine again, eh Esme?" Carlisle joked.

Esme looked upward towards the stairs to make sure they were alone. "Edward just had one of those moments where he reminded me how young he really is. Most of the time I feel like he's lived a thousand lifetimes, and then every once in a while, he acts like a boy…I just love it when he acts like that." Esme hugged herself with the spirit of the moment. She looked over at Carlisle with a mischievous grin, "He likes Bella."

"That's obvious," Carlisle stated as he placed a raw snow pea in his mouth.

"Apparently to everyone, except for Edward." Esme smiled. "He wanted her telephone number but he was too embarrassed to ask me for it. He had this long, convoluted explanation of why he needed to call her. It was so cute."

All traces of humor left Carlisle's face as he turned serious. "What do you think of Bella…I mean, for Edward?"

Esme sighed. "She seems so innocent. On the one hand, she's exactly the kind of girl I'd love to see Edward with…but on the other hand, she's exactly the kind of girl that I'd try to keep away from a guy like Edward."

********

The house phone rang so infrequently at the Swan home that the jingle of it always sounded so foreign to Bella. And it almost never rang after seven-thirty on a weeknight.

The caller ID said "Cullen" and Bella assumed it was Esme calling to change the date for an upcoming tutoring session.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Bella?" a male voice whispered.

"Edward?"

"Were you expecting Mike?"

"Who?"

"Nothing. Anyway, did you know about a test in English?"

"Yeah. Peale mentioned it a few times."

"Oh. Well, not that I care, but if I pass it, I'm getting a car…so…you know."

"You'll pass it. We've been studying for it."

"We have?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Well I guess I was too distracted last time by your kissing conversation."

Oh not this again. "That was your conversation, not mine."

"That's right. And I'm still waiting for you to answer my question."

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Why do you want to know so badly?"

"You know stuff about me. I'm just trying to even things up a bit."

"I don't know anything about you. Well, except for where you live and that you have a little sister and two parents."

"Well that's more than I know about you. Where do you live?"

"Just past Wolf Creek, by the footbridge." Bella answered.

"And you're from Italy?" Edward asked, as if he were writing a report.

Bella laughed. "Gotta love small towns," she said. "Actually, no. I've been to Italy because my dad was in the Navy, but I'm from Phoenix. That Italy thing started because I used a passport as a form of identification and Mrs. Cope in the office asked me where I'd been. I've only been to Italy, so that's what I told her and I guess she told all the teachers. When my history teacher asked me about it, I just wanted to get it over with so I just went with it." Bella explained.

"Oh."

"So, there. You know stuff about me, too."

"You still know more about me."

"No, I don't."

"You know why you're tutoring me. No one else knows about that."

"Because you're failing English?"

"And…"

"And?"

"Are you going to pretend you don't know?"

Bella considered playing dumb for a moment, but that was condescending and she didn't want to appear that way. And since it almost seemed like a dream sequence that she was having this conversation with Edward Cullen in the first place, she admitted her knowledge about his shortcoming with reading.

"I know." she whispered. "But…like…do you just not like to read or do you not know…how?"

"I don't like reading," Edward confirmed. "And nobody ever really made me. So…I just didn't."

"But you can?"

"Yeah, some stuff."

"Oh." Bella decided not to press him. She was surprised he'd been as honest about it as he had. She knew it had to have been hard for him. So to be fair, against her better judgment, she answered the question he'd been trying to get out of her. "When I was twelve, my cousin kissed me at our other cousin's wedding."

"On the mouth?" Edward asked.

"No! On the cheek." Bella corrected.

"Then that doesn't count."

"I know it doesn't." Bella sighed. "So there you have it. Go on, laugh all you want."

Edward didn't laugh. He didn't say anything – and that was almost worse.

"So you've never had a boyfriend or anything?"

Bella wondered what qualified as "or anything" before she answered him, "Nope."

"Why? Parents religious fanatics or something?"

Bella laughed. "No. My mom moved around a lot and I was always the new kid at school and I just didn't get to know very many people."

"Oh."

The conversation ended abruptly and Bella's mind raced with ways to restart the conversation or end it gracefully, she wasn't sure which she wanted to do.

"Bella…I need a favor," Edward finally stated.

"What, you'll teach me to kiss if I teach you to read?" Bella attempted a joke.

"I know how to read," Edward said, frustrated.

"It was a joke," Bella stated quickly. And a bad one at that. Suddenly she felt like the world's biggest loser. Why did I say that?

"Anyway, I was wondering about that test in English…like, I dunno…maybe you could help me…you know…"

"Yeah, I told you we've already been studying for it. And we'll keep studying."

"Yeah, but we can't talk during the test. What if I don't understand a question or something? You can help me out…not with every answer, but a few. I just need a C."

Bella finally realized what Edward was asking. "Edward, we can't cheat. We could get suspended…not to mention a failing grade on the test."

"We won't get caught."

"Edward, we're not cheating," Bella stated firmly. "We won't need to. I promise. I give you my word that you won't fail the test."

As the words left her mouth, Bella knew that she would have to do everything within her power to make sure they came true; for tonight had marked a new level in her "relationship" with Edward Cullen. Whatever they were to one another was almost identifiable.

********

Edward stared at the phone that evening after he'd finished his call with Bella. It was perhaps the weirdest, and longest telephone conversation he'd ever had. It had been his goal to get Bella to agree to allow him to copy her answers on the upcoming English test. Although she'd adamantly denied him that request, there was something else that he'd accomplished.

Ever since he'd seen her talking to Mike Newton, Edward had had a gnawing discontent deep within that he couldn't quite put his finger on. And while he didn't want to lay any claim to Bella, he didn't want anyone else to either…at least not until he could figure out what it was about her that made him care at all whether or not she liked Mike Newton.

But that little "joke" she'd made about teaching him to read if he taught her to kiss – that was not Freudian. She knew exactly what she was saying. And if she didn't, Edward surely did.