I was REALLY getting a headache and Bella's somewhat whining wasn't helping. I pinched the bridge of my nose, taking deep breathes. Inhale, two three, exhale two three, inhale, two three.

"Can I ask you just one more please?"

He sighed loudly.

"Okay," yet I noticed that his lips were pressed into a thin line, and I find myself wondering what in the hell am I doing looking at his lips.

"Well you said you knew we hadn't gone into the bookstore, and that we had gone south. I was just wondering how you knew that."

I waited patiently, yet I had a suspicion I already knew the smelly truth to this question. And this pun was intended.

"I thought we were past all the evasiveness," Bella huffed.

"Fine then. I followed your scents."

Right. On. Target.

"And then you didn't answer one of my first questions…"

He flashed a look at her. "Which one?"

" How does it work - the mind-reading thing? Can you read anybody's mind, anywhere? How do you do it? Can the rest of your family . . . ?"

I was actually interested in the series of question she had rushed on about: I elevated my head slightly, leaning my head back against the headrest, and listening intently.

"No, it's just me. And I can't hear anyone, anywhere. I have to be fairly close. The more familiar someone's 'voice' is, the farther away I can hear them. But still, no more than a few miles. It's a little like being in a huge hall filled with people, everyone talking at once. It's just a hum - a buzzing of voices in the background. Until I focus on one voice, and then what they're thinking is clear.

"Most of the time I tune it all out - it can be very distracting. Ands then it's easier to seem … normal" - he frowned slightly - "when I'm not accidentally answering someone's thoughts rather than their words."

"Why do you think you can't hear me? I mean us." Bella asks.

He now stares at me, and I stare back emotionlessly, blinking slowly and I allow a small smirk to crawl across my lips, before looking into the distance.

"I don't know," he barely audibly replies. "The only guess I have is that maybe your minds don't work the same way the rest of theirs do. Like your thoughts are on the AM frequency and I'm only getting FM."

"My mind doesn't work right? I'm a freak?" I rolled my eyes allowing a small sigh to leave my lips as I mutter just loud enough for Bella to hear the icy tone in my voice.

"Bella…you're self doubt is making my own self-esteem plummet. I'm going to start doubting my own self defense abilities soon, because my self esteem is so low…"

I believe they both got the hint.

"I hear voices in my mind and you're worried that you're the freak?" He laughed. "Don't worry, it's just a theory . . . Which brings us back to you."

She sighs herself.

"Aren't we past all the evasions now?" He says softly.

I close my eyes, still very alert.

"Holy crow! Slow down!" ….she just noticed? Oh Bella…how sweet and unaware you are…

"What's wrong?"

"You're going a hundred miles an hour!"

I mutter just loud enough.

"Bella, I go AT LEAST a hundred when I'm just getting to school…"

"Alyson you are SO NOT helping!"

"Relax, Bella." I can see Edward's eye roll from here, even if he wasn't looking anywhere near my direction.

"Are you trying to kill us?" She was still shouting, and therefore the headache that was slowly retreating came back with such force that it made me flinch, and I held my forehead.

"We're not going to crash."

"Why are you in such a hurry?" She softens her voice.

I mutter, darkly humorous. "He's obviously trying to get you out of the car as quick as he can…"

"ALYSON! That's not funny!" I click open my seatbelt when I see her start to pout, and I scoot forward, wrapping my arms around the seat, Bella in all, and started to speak in a baby voice.

"I'm so sorry. You know how much I love you so…"

I sit back in my seat, quite satisfied at the blush that was spreading across her cheeks and smirk broadly.

"But why are going so fast?"

"I always drive like this." He turns his golden eye gaze all the way back to me in the backseat, and I stare alarmed at him. But before I could reprimand him, Bella does it first.

"Keep your eyes on the road! I know Alyson's gorgeous and all, but I don't want to die!"

I choke on my air, and claw at my throat, trying to clear it.

"Bella, I am far from gorgeous! You know that is bullshit!" I felt a blush creep up my neck.

And Edward swerved the car, sharply. And I slammed into the door behind Edward, cursing in my breath, and breathing shallowly. And I buckle myself in place, sort of adrenalized from the near collision with the window, and I rub my forehead again. And right after that, Edward manages to say in a barely strained voice.

"I've never been in an accident. Bella - I've never even gotten a ticket. Built-in radar detector." He tapped his forehead, and I observed him from the back seat.

I noticed how tense his neck was, the chords of muscle were slightly bulging, and his shoulders were held stiffly. I could see one hand on the steering wheel, and I could see the stretch of skin over his knuckles, the veins of his arms, stood out, running from the back of his hands up to his forearms, disappearing into his turtleneck.

This sparked a memory. I remember a familiar situation, which all three of us were present…I was trying to pinpoint it…pursuing the familiarity in my head, and pursuing it till I've got my mind set on the fleeting thought, and memories were flitting through my head like a slideshow, when I suddenly spotted it, the show stopping until I recognize the scene: the first time Bella and I met Edward Cullen up close and personal. And knowing the what I know now, he was pissed off because Bella smelt so good to him. Or maybe it was both of us. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Oh shit….I smell appetizing to Edward Cullen, but then, why hasn't he swerved when Bella blushed..…

I tuned in right in time to heard Bella make the biggest mistake she has made yet so far.

"His dad is one of the Quileute elders. We went for a walk - and he was telling me some old legends - trying to scare me, I think."

"Go on…"

She actually turns in her seat to look at me, and she gives me a look.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Alyson. Why don't you tell him the theory. Or rather…you know the reality of this entire situation."

I stare at her, completely stunned, my heartbeat upping itself.

And my wide eyes catch Edward's gaze in the rearview, and I gulp nervously, watching his hands on the wheel tense even harder.

Bella continues, her voice quiet but powerful. "Alyson, you don't have much experience hiding how brilliant you are. What gave you away is that you when I first met you, you watched everything and studied everything with the utmost concentration, as if to store information away for a later use. And the fact I looked up your past records. Damn it, Alyson, your IQ is 180! Alyson, you're IQ means you're even smarter than some geniuses! No wonder you breeze through your classes! Alyson, you know what Edward is. I've seen you eyeing him, ever since you've seen him."

I sit back in my seat, my pupils dilated as I stared in shock at Bella, and then I froze as I caught Edward's stunned gaze in the rearview once again.

The headache returned, to say the least.

And I held my face in my hands, trying to suck in deep breathes.

"Not one word of this reaches to ears outside this car, understood? Understood. Yes… I was tested when I was …ten. And I've had tests each year since that. Each test, I've somehow increased my IQ by ten points each year…" I lean back, throwing my head on the headrest, and rubbing the bridge of my nose. " I've managed to hide how off-the-charts my IQ score is. I didn't like the attention. That's why I hide everything I can. I put myself off as ditzy and stupid and brash…" I smile, laughing harshly. "Both of you looked right through that façade." I said no more, massaging my forehead and looked to Bella, stating this clearly and without wavering in my voice. "Edward Cullen, Alice Cullen, Rosalie Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, Mrs. Esme Cullen, and Jasper Cullen are all vampires. And it doesn't matter."

"I agree."

"It didn't matter?" His voice was incredulous and angry.

"No. It doesn't matter to me. . .us what you are."

"You don't care if I'm a monster? If I'm not human?"

"No" We both replied at the same time, but I mainly remained silent, emotionally exhausted, and with the headache about to explode.

I let myself drift off, listening to their voices from behind a hazy sound-blocker.

"You're angry. I shouldn't have said anything." Bella.

"No. I'd rather know what both of you were thinking - even if what you're thinking is insane."

"So Alyson's wrong?" Bella challenged incredulously.

"That's not what I was referring to. 'It doesn't matter'!"

"She's right, then?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not really. But I am curious."

"What are you curious about?"

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen"

Maybe physically….

"And how long have you been seventeen?"

"A while…" He admits.

But I intercept this right here. Opening my eyes I lean over the driver's headrest and nestle my fingers into Edward's hair, humming in concentration.

I mutter my theories to the two.

"From the way he moves, you can't tell if he's from this century or the last, but the way he talks does reveal something. You may not have an accent, but you have a specific higher level of Standard English then is heard of in this age…" I pause, running my hands through his hair, studying the texture, and the initial appearance of the hair follicles. "Adding that your hair has not seen any hair gel, or relaxer, or any other harmful hair product that comes from the fifties down to now, I'd say that you're anywhere from the 1890's to the 1910's. " I lean back, unlatching my hands from his hair and sitting back, closing my eyes again.

The power of observation.

"Wow…you're good…" Bella whispers ,and I crack a grin. "Don't laugh - but how can you come out during the daytime?"

"Myth." He laughs anyway, and I have a hard time concealing my smile.

"Burned by the sun?"

"Myth."

"Sleeping in coffins?"

"Myth…" He trails off, murmuring in a whimsical tone. "I can't sleep."

"At all?" My ears prick up to their conversation.

"Never." The exchanged a long look before Edward was the one to pull away. "You haven't asked me the most important question yet." His cold eyes lock on mine from the driver's seat and it takes me a long time to gather breath to ask the question, and I admit, mostly because he was staring at me. Edward Cullen has got to be the most handsome kid I've ever met…

"Do you actually drink the blood of animals?" I whisper.

And unexpectedly, the corner of his mouth twists up.

"The Quileutes have a long memory."

I watch that crooked grin of his, and close my eyes. Damn it. I don't think Bella would get the hint though.

"Don't let that make you two complacent, though. They're right to keep their distance from us. We are still dangerous."

"I don't understand." That from Bella.

"We try. We're usually very good at what we do. Sometimes we make mistakes. Me, for example, allowing myself to be alone with the two of you."

"This is a mistake?"

"He's saying he's desperately holding himself back from eating us, Bella-love." I murmur, my dark humor seeping out again.

A silence filled the car, a confirmation that I was right from Edward, and a state of awe from Bella.

"Tell us more." I hear the desperation in her voice, and I blink confused.

"What more do you want to know?"

"Tell me why you hunt animals instead of people."

"I don't want to be a monster."

"But animals aren't enough?"

At this point, I let myself succumb to my headache, leaning my head against the cold window, and shutting my eyes. Falling off into a deep sleep. I didn't feel like a third wheel, yet I knew when I needed to effectively shut my ears. And it worked out in my favor as well, because the headache was getting a touch unbearable.

I awakened when the soft hum of the engine had stopped, instantly alert, and my eyes darted around the car for anything suspicious…besides Edward Cullen that is.

My eyes assessed Edward's grin before I noticed that Bella was stumbling her way outside the car, and I shake my head. Womanizer.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and raised from the car, walking around the front of it, smoothing out the slight wrinkles in the blouse before helping Bella to the front door. I took a good look at her before she entered.

I take a look over my shoulder before mouthing the words, for I knew that Edward had exceptional hearing.

"You're in love with him." It wasn't a question. She nods, looking up at me, but I was already looking in Edward's direction again, and I was smirking.

"Go get him girl…" I give her a large hug before sweeping around and walking down the steps towards Edward's car. I rub my forehead as I get into the car, on the passenger's side now, and buckle my seatbelt.

He turns on the engine and takes a long look at me directly, the first time since we were in his room.

His tone was inquisitively low. "What did you write to the waitress on that note?"

I allow a large smile to cross my lips.

"Hmm. That's for me to know, and for you to never find out. And let's just say that she will never bother you again if you and Bella decide to dine there in the future. Okay…?"

He thinks over this, raising his eyebrow.

"You don't miss anything…"

I dig in my purse for my ring of keys, and lean over quickly to envelope him in a hug. I feel him stiffen before allowing his arms to surround me.

"Good luck…" I whisper in his ear before slipping out of the embrace and settling to my side of the car

My best girl friend was in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen, my best boy friend as of the moment.

And let me get this straight. Even if Edward is the sexiest being I've ever laid my eyes on, I am not in love with him. And he's not in love with me. Bella and Edward love each other. And I want them both happy.

But that doesn't mean I can't admire Edward's beauty.