Bella

I sat with my legs folded in a tree outside Edward's window the entire night. I made sure I was in a decidedly hidden and dark spot so no one would see me—especially not Edward. I tried not to watch him from where I was but it was difficult. There was little to entertain me and I was inherently interested in what Edward did at home. I listened to him as he talked to his friends—a girl named Danny—about coming to visit this weekend. She and their friend Vince were busy with separate previous engagements but they promised in two weeks they would be here to explore Forks.

I found myself even more curious about Edward's friends after he talked to them briefly. I hadn't really thought about if he had friends in Chicago—sometimes human normality's slipped my mind.

Danny sounded like a sarcastic girl who obviously knew Edward very well. I frowned at the strange feeling rising in me—jealousy again. I didn't understand how easily Edward brought out the human feelings in me. I let out a tortured sigh as I slid through Edward's window—he had long been asleep.

I looked around the room slowly. There were still boxes of things left out from the move, though he had been here more than three months. I laughed quietly at that—it seemed like something he would do. I ran my fingers over the pictures along his dresser. Pictures of him, a young girl and boy. I giggled at the picture of him at such a young age—he had wide rimmed glasses on.

A long sigh came from Edward's slightly parted lips and he shifted in his sleep. I breathed in his scent that was everywhere. It was much easier… much, much easier but the demon in me still growled hungrily. I looked at his sleeping face—he looked so young and innocent even in sleep. The moonlight was spread on his interesting hair. It was adorably messy from sleep and I yearned to touch it. My hand started to drift to his copper hair unconsciously but I drew back when I finally realized what I was doing.

With a defeated last glance back at him, I slid back out his window and in to the tree.

--

In my boredom, I came up with a purely brilliant idea to keep Edward in my sight at almost all times. In the wee hours of the morning, I flew to his car and twiddled recklessly with the engine under the hood. I was no car expect like Rosalie but I knew if you mess with something under there, things usually don't turn out well.

Tomorrow morning I would just "happen" to come to Edward's aid when he needed a ride to school. I smiled tentatively. From my spot in the tree I watched the hints of sunlight peak through the trees. It was my sign to leave. I ran home quickly, trying to get out of my ridiculous "football" clothes.

No one was to be seen when I entered the house but I heard Rosalie and Alice primping themselves for a day of school. I hurried to my room to find a pair of jeans, a dark blue shirt, leather jacket and ankle boots left out for me. "Thanks, Alice." I said, knowing she would hear me. She always picked out some ridiculously fashionable outfit for me in the mornings. I was not in to clothes and never knew what to wear and she enjoyed dressing me up.

I put them on swiftly before checking myself in the mirror. The clothes looked fine but my hair—I paused to stare at it. I lifted a hand to try and fix it when suddenly Alice was behind me. Her face was smiling anxiously at me in the mirror. I rolled my eyes and shrugged, "Okay, fine." I accepted her silent request to do something with my hair.

I waited impatiently as she twiddled and twirled strands before fluffing it and then sighing contently. I rose to leave when I realized I couldn't drive everyone to school. I turned to Alice, "I'm—"

"Taking the Volvo and Rosalie will have to drive us." She said perkily.

I nodded at her while she danced around the room happily. "You're more lively than usual—What is it?"

She smiled genially at me, but there was something else in her eyes. "Oh, nothing."

I chose not to press her. Jasper probably did something romantic or something…I shrugged and with a wave was gone.

Edward

I was rudely awakened from my dream by the loud alarm clock by my ear. I groaned groggily—it was such a good dream. I hit the snooze immediately and tried to fall back in to my dream. Bella was saving me again from something—it looked kinda like we were in Gotham… I half expected her to be wearing a Batgirl costume. She was flying, her hair a halo around her face. I watched in awe as she grabbed me from the clutches of someone—a man?—and hugged me close. She moved to kiss me…her lips were drawing nearer…

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep.

I flung the alarm clock at the wall. It stopped beeping, thankfully. I threw a hand in my hair and laughed at myself. I was definitely not a morning person.

As I trampled down the stairs, I noticed my food was already on the table and my mother was glaring at me with raised eye brows. "What?" I asked.

"You are going to be late, young man. Eat your cereal and get going!" She was shaking a long finger at me.

I shrugged off her warning. "What time is it?"

"7:55." She said over her shoulder as she tended to the dishes.

I choked on my mouthful of Mini-Wheats. "What? School starts at 8:15!"

My mother let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes, I know."

I stuffed my face with cereal before flying up the stairs and assembling some sort of outfit. I brushed my teeth hastily as I checked my hair and made sure it wasn't standing up in weird places. As soon as I deemed myself presentable, I threw my bag over my shoulder and ran down the stairs.

My mother was at the door, waiting with a Pop Tart. She was smirking at me as she kissed me on the cheek and pushed me out the door, the treat in my hand. I called out thanks as I ran to my car. It took just about fifteen minutes to get to school from my house—I could still make it in time.

I shoved my Pop Tart in my mouth as I turned the keys in the ignition. Nothing happened. I tried again, this time with vigor. Not a thing occurred. I stared angrily at my ignition. After a few more tries I decided to look under the hood. Something about the engine was wrong. How the hell could that have happened? I knew I didn't have time to fix it.

"Perfect timing, ass hole!" I kicked my tire.

"Need a ride?" I heard an angelic voice from behind me.

My body turned forward so fast, I almost thought I had whip last. There was Bella in her Volvo, looking like a vixen in some high school teen movie. The Pop Tart in my mouth fell on to the ground.

"Car trouble?" She asked from her spot in the shiny silver car. I nodded, still in a daze.

Her delicate laugh soon followed. Bella nodded towards the passenger's seat of her car, "Jump in,"

Though my mind couldn't form thoughts, I did what I was told. I think if she had told me to jump off a bridge at that moment, I probably would've done it. I grabbed my bag and hopped in to the car. She smiled at me as she started to pull away.

"Morning," I said as I remembered that I could speak.

I noticed that she looked happy as she sped out of my neighborhood at a top speed. "Jeez, speed racer." I joked.

Bella didn't seem to understand the joke. "What?" She asked innocently.

"You drive kinda fast… It's—I was joking." I stuttered like a complete idiot.

She laughed, "Oh. Don't worry, I'm a good driver." She seemed confident.

"Whatever you say." I shrugged before noticing that none of her family was in the car. "Where's the rest of the bunch?"

Bella fiddled with the radio as she spoke, "Oh, Rosalie decided to drive today."

It seemed a little suspicious that she happened to drive by my house the one time I had car trouble and her family was conveniently not with her. Maybe I should be more than just suspicious—seeing as that I thought had I finally figured what she was…a vampire. But, I felt no fear. I was more than happy that things fell in to place like this. Maybe I was an idiot.

"So, you're not going to the dance this weekend?" She asked conversationally.

I froze. "Uh, no. I hate dances. Plus, I haven't actually been asked yet." I laughed nervously. Was she going to ask me?

"I'm sure someone will ask you," She said with a devilish smirk on her face.

I was clearly disappointed but I tried not to let it show. "I hope not," I said breathlessly.

Then I remembered how she had missed school yesterday. I turned to her and eyed her with an inspecting eye. "You missed school yesterday…"

Bella's face didn't give a thing away. She simply shrugged and smiled, "First nice day in a while…Carlisle sometimes lets us play hooky on those days."

Hmm… I was definitely right about Bella. I was good at reading people—but not her. Or maybe I'm just not good at reading vampires. I nearly laughed out loud at my own thoughts—I was insane. Completely insane.

"You're lucky. My parents never let me have off unless I'm practically dying of influenza." She laughed at my exaggeration.

Bella turned her depthless amber eyes on me suddenly, "Tell me about them."

"Who?" I was lost.

"Your parents."

Oh, right. "My parents… well, there's not much to say really. They're just parents."

Bella didn't seem satisfied with that answer. "What are they like?"

"Well, my father's pretty easy going. We're similar like that. But my mother is the complete opposite. She's over the top a lot of the time. Everything is an exaggeration. But, she's my mom. She's a good cook, though. You should come by and have something." I suddenly realized what I had just asked her to do: Come over and meet my parents. Oh. Dear. God. I must've sounded like a complete idiot.

For some reason, this completely rolled off Bella's back. "I'm sure she is. I've heard your father talk about her meals." She let out a small laugh.

I laughed with her, "You've met?" I didn't want to sound like a stalker and know everything about her life, so I chose to play dumb.

"I candy stripe at the hospital a few days a week. It's a bit hard not to run in to him. He's very popular with everyone." Bella turned a sharp left in to the school parking lot.

I checked my watch. 8:08. Damn, she's fast. "What were your parents like?" I couldn't contain my curiosity. Vampire or no vampire, she still had to have parents.

Her eyes got hazy for a half a second until she shrugged, "I don't remember them very well. Carlisle and Esme have always been my parents, for as long as I can remember."

I guess Esme was Mrs. Cullen. Weird name...but, weren't all their names a little weird?

After she parked, we both exited the car. People were still milling in to school, some were just lingering out in the parking lot. As we fell in to step with each other, I noticed all eyes on us. It was almost like we were walking in slow motion toward the school as every student stopped and stared. Bella didn't seem to notice a thing. I guess she must've gotten used to having everyone watch her.

As we made our separate ways to our respective lockers, she sent me a timid goodbye smile and I was sad to see her go. My heart gave a little lurch and I winced—I was in deep. Maybe a little too deep, I thought as I stood and watched her walk down the hall.

Bella

I felt his eyes on my back as I walked away. I tried hard not to let myself think about my current situation—or how I felt about it. I had to protect Edward at all costs, even if it had to hurt to be so close to him and yet not be able to be with him. I swallowed the dryness in my throat and drifted to my locker in a daze.

--

My first few classes were more hellish than usual. Spanish was especially awful. If I hadn't already taken thousands of classes already on the language and didn't know it backwards than perhaps it might not have been so dreadful. The people in my classes are so completely novice that it's unbearably frustrating. I suppose it's not their fault, seeing as it is their first class on the language.

"Miss Cullen?" Mrs. Rodriguez asked out of no where.

I knew what she was trying to do. She did this every class. Whenever I turn and completely stare out the window out of pure boredom, she usually calls on me suddenly. Of course I'm listening to the entire exchange and know what's going on. "Es un el miércoles por la mañana, Señoritas Rodriguez."

It had been not too long ago that she finally realized I was more skilled at speaking the language than she was. She frowned at me and turned to the next student to terrorize. I sighed and leaned back in my chair, wishing that one of my family members was in the class so it wasn't so completely unbearable.

The bell rang and I flew out of the class as fast as humanly possible. I made my way to the cafeteria to find my family already seated with their steely eyes turned to me. Rosalie's eyes were usually hostile—but this time Jasper and Emmett looked a little angry as well. I frowned and narrowed my eyes, immediately looking to Alice. She shrugged helplessly but said nothing, though her eyes were still light and happy.

Rosalie's ridiculously large and "fashionable" purse sat on the seat I should've been sitting. I turned a sharp angle away from them and sat at an empty table as far as possible. I obviously wasn't wanted. After I retrieved a tray and pushed the food around for a minute, I heard Edward's voice.

"One day of sunshine and now we're back to rain…" He said melancholy clear in his voice.

Mike was not sympathetic to Edward's sadness. "Get used to it, Masen." He laughed to take the edge off the comment.

"I'm asking Edward today." I recognized the high pitched voice as the vile Jessica Stanley.

"A little late to be asking, don't you think Jess?" Angela Something (I wasn't quite sure her last name) asked quietly.

Lauren was her usual malicious self. "Do you think he'll even say yes?" She was indeed more despicable than Jessica herself.

Jessica was obviously angered by this—it took her a moment to compose herself. "Edward better say yes."

"I asked Mike yesterday," Lauren said.

Angela was the voice of reason, "Didn't Edward say he hated dances?"

"She's hoping that he'll feel bad and say yes because it's so close to Saturday." Angela snickered.

I had remembered hearing Jessica discussing asking Edward with Angela earlier in the week—I was curious this morning if it had happened or not yet. According to Edward's reaction to my question, it obviously it hadn't. And Edward had expressed to me his complete disgust of dances. I wondered if he would feel bad enough for Jessica to accept the invitation. A small voice inside of me hoped not.

I blocked out the voices, though they were so easy to hear. I didn't want to invade Edward's personal life.

As I swirled a spoon in my apple sauce, I heard the rustle of clothing and the light click of feet coming closer to me. I pretended not to notice as I continued to stare in to the disgusting looking brown sauce—but, who am to talk? I drink blood.

"All alone?" Edward asked as he slid in to a seat across from me.

I looked up and tossed my hair out of my face with a fleeting grin. "Not anymore." I didn't realize how true the words were until they were out of my mouth—and not just in the sense of him joining me at the lunch table. I didn't feel so alone anymore. When did I start feeling so alone?

Before I could continue with my whirlwind thoughts, he was speaking again, "Family feud?"

I shrugged, "Not sure, exactly." I shot a quick glance at my family, "They seem to be angry with me for some reason."

Edward pursed his lips, "Because of me?"

I pondered that for a half a second. It sounded about right. Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper were more than a little wary about Edward. I suppose they didn't want me to associate with him at all. Edward was very intuitive.

He looked distressed…unnecessarily so. I didn't want him to worry about my family, or myself, at all. I tried to lighten the mood, "Can you read minds?"

Edward chuckled slightly, "Sometimes I think I can." Then, as he had his eyes on my family he said, "Or maybe they've just been glaring at me for months and it's more like common sense."

"They aren't very tactful, are they?" I sighed heavily.

"They don't think I would…" He trailed off, unsure of what to say. I knew what he was referring to. He had witnessed my abilities and had kept silent for this entire time.

"Tell?" I offered. As he nodded, I continued, "Well…quite frankly, yes." There was no use in lying.

Edward shook his head quickly, "I wouldn't. I mean…not only would I look utterly insane but… I wouldn't…" He swallowed a thump in his throat, "do that…to you."

My heart broke slowly. The raw look on his face was bewildering. Perhaps he wasn't just growing a harmless crush on me… I squelched the thought immediately—no need to get my hopes up. Especially if he would ever find out what I truly was.

We were silent for a moment. There was nothing to say.

"It doesn't look like you enjoy applesauce." He said with a mirthful hint in his voice.

I laughed, "Not exactly."

"What do you like?" He took a massive bite out of his sandwich.

Blood. "None of the stuff they have here." Edward continued to eat with an unrelenting vigor, "It doesn't look like you can say the same."

He chomped quickly and swallowed, "I like any and all food. My mother calls me a human garbage disposal," He paused, looking as if he was thinking of some far away memory, "Isn't she clever?" I heard the dripping sarcasm in his voice.

I wondered if my mother and father ever teased me. I was a klutzy human—I remembered that. Carlisle and Esme often ribbed me about my affinity for stalking my prey for longer than necessary. I mentally grimaced—that wasn't exactly something I could bring up in this conversation.

"Bella?" His voice was almost pleading.

I furrowed my brow in concern, "Yes?"

"Will you ever…ya know, tell me?" Edward looked nervous.

And we're back to this subject. I should've known he would quit teasing me about it and finally just ask eventually. "Edward—"

The bell rang suddenly and thankfully, in my case. I stood and turned to watch my family members leave with a sharp eye—each of them starring at me with raised eyebrows. Edward came to stand next to me, the heat from his body radiating like a lamp. I held my breath as a student passed us by, sending Edward's smell flying at me. It didn't hit me like a truck, but it felt excruciating. My muscles tightened and were ready to spring. My throat was dry. I started to walk away to an open area, a place near a window. I let out a shaky breath and looked behind me to see Edward following. I breathed in again and felt better; the initial shock of his blood had passed.

He followed me through the halls to class. "Seriously, Bella. You have no idea how much this is killing me… I'm going insane." He explained in a rushed whisper, "Actually, I really think I have gone insane. This just isn't normal—"

"I know but it's not that easy. I can't just tell you… It's complicated." How to word this to make him understand the enormity this secret holds?

He was displeased with my answer, "Just tell me now… am I crazy? Have I gone mad? Because maybe I should let my parents know and even recommend a home to put myself in to?!" The last sentence was a loud, dramatic whisper.

We stared at one another in the middle of the hallway. There was something about the way he said that…My lips twitched. I felt the laughter burning inside me. A giggle escaped my mouth. His wildly upset expression shifted—he stared at me with surprised eyes. Then, suddenly, we were outright laughing. We laughed all the way to History class.

Edward

So after she had laughed in my face because of how ridiculous I sounded, we sat in silence in class. Not an uncomfortable silence but…pleasant. It was like that feeling you have after having a good laugh. I chortled as I thought of my last words to her—I was sounding more and more crazy lately.

She vowed to me after class to pick me up outside the gym after my last class. I struggled to be polite and turn down the ride—the walk wasn't too far—but she was already adamant that she drive me home. She was almost angry that I would even entertain the thought to walk home.

We were playing baseball in gym. Mike and a few of his jock buddies were hyped up to play—they were excited for the upcoming season. I liked baseball; it was one of my favorite sports. Although I wasn't nearly at enthusiastic about playing as they were (I was more anxious for the end of school and the ride home), I was definitely in to the game.

Mike was elected captain of a team and he had thrown me in the outfield—he wasn't too concerned with where I was playing because he had his baseball friends on the team. Not many people hit it long enough to reach me until Tyler stepped to the plate. He hit a coulda-been-grand-slam but, I'm proud to say I ran back to catch it in time.

As I carried the caught ball in with me to the infield on the last out, Mike and the jocks stared at me with shocked eyes. "Edward, I didn't know you were that…"

"Fast?" One of the suggested, looking at me differently than before.

"Yeah, I used to play a little ball." I shrugged and tossed them the ball.

They all had something in their eyes as they gazed at me—like I was a piece of meat or something. Mike cleared his throat, "Ya know, some seniors graduated last year and we have some empty places on the team this year."

Hmm… I hadn't really thought of that. Play baseball? I guess I could. What else did I have to do?

"Yeah, Edward, you should try out. We don't start for a little while but coach has us playing on some Sunday's…He'd probably like it if you came around to play." One of the said.

I made a noncommittal sound, "Yeah, maybe." As I walked away, they all talked about how great they were going to be this year.

I changed as fast as I could out of my gym clothes and back in to my normal ones. I ran a hand through my hair and barely acknowledged Mike on my way out of the guy's locker room until BAM—there Jessica stood: right in front of me as I was running out of the locker room door.

"Hi Edward." She said, her expression unsure.

"Hey Jessica." I replied, shocked.

She fidgeted slightly and cleared her throat. I suddenly remembered that she hadn't really spoken to me in weeks—ever since the camping trip. Ever since Lauren.

"Um, listen… you know that Sadie Hawkins dance is on Saturday…"

I immediately wanted to flee the building. No way was she asking me right now if I would go to the dance with her. I remained silent.

Jessica winced when I didn't answer, "Well… I was wondering if you'd go with me."

I planted a polite smile on my face. I remembered the excuse I'd given Mike—about Danny and Vince coming to Forks. "I would say yes, Jessica…" Okay, that was a lie, "But, my friends are coming here on Saturday…I haven't seen them in months." And yeah, that was a lie too. They were coming up in about two weeks.

Her face fell but I saw in her eyes that she was expecting this. "Oh, really? Well… that's a shame. Maybe next time?" Her eyes were hopeful.

"Um, yeah sure." This was beyond awkward. I felt bad for her, knowing she had no date. "Hey, I think that Eric hasn't been asked yet…Maybe he'd be available?"

Jessica didn't look pleased with that prospect but she smiled curtly at me, "Yeah, maybe." Then she turned to go, "See you tomorrow, Edward."

"Bye," I called out as she walked out of the gym.

I sighed and walked through the back exit to find Bella's Volvo waiting for me already. I smiled—my thoughts of empathy for Jessica long gone and now replaced with thoughts of Bella.

She greeted me with a dazzling smile—her bright white teeth momentarily blinding me. I stared at her in awe. She seemed worried at my expression until I finally gave her a crooked grin back. "So, what home have you picked for yourself?"

"Home?"

Bella laughed, "Oh, you know, the home you've picked to stay in after you're rendered insane."

I chuckled back at her but my face grew hot. I watched her stiffen in my peripheral vision. She rolled down a window and let out a breath in to the air while I stored this in my memory bank as one of the many clues I should be tallying. Do vampires need more air? Do werewolves like to roll down windows? Ugh, this is hopeless.

"Right, that home. I was thinking about Arkham Asylum… The Joker seemed to like it." I thought it was pretty clever but she only laughed politely—I expected she didn't exactly get the joke. Not a Batman fan?

She was driving extremely fast again and I mulled over what I would say next. Should I bombard her with questions? It didn't seem to work at lunch. She looked like she wanted to tell me her secret…but her golden eyes were always scanning her families. There was obviously something up with that. I was almost growing used to their dark stares. All of them except Alice. She smiled at me whenever I caught her eye. I wasn't sure what that was about.

Then, I thought of a better idea. I would give her an ultimatum—not now of course; it wouldn't be as fun at school if I were to now. On Friday I would tell her that on Saturday I would wait outside my house for her. Bright and early on my front step, there I would be. She could come pick me up if she wanted and tell me all about her secret…or, she didn't have to. But, if she didn't then I wasn't going to be her friend anymore. I winced at how dumb that sounded but it was the only thing I could think of. She would either laugh in my face or …okay, she was probably just going to laugh in my face.

As we pulled up to my house, she turned to me and gestured to the house, "Here we are."

"Thanks," I said genuinely. "I'm going to have to fix that piece of crap." I looked to my car. I was silently thanking it for breaking down.

Bella shrugged, "No hurry. I can drive you this week. My family obviously doesn't need a ride."

My heart flew. Oh, God… I'm pathetic. "Oh okay, yeah…that'd be great."

I stared at her for a second. She was just so—"Edward?"

I flinched, "Yeah?"

"Are you going to…" She was looking at me with concerned eyes.

I realized I had been staring at for more than a second… try a whole minute. I blushed and reached for the door, "Yeah, sorry…See ya tomorrow," I called as I hurried out of the car in embarrassment.

I said it before and I'll say it again: I'm doomed.

Sorry everyone, I am way too busy to write anymore. I thought this chapter was kind of sweet—the two of them just really needed to get to know each other more. And Edward has big plans for Saturday! That is going to be a BIG, BIG chapter. A pivotal chapter. So stay tuned!