Helllloo, hope you all had a lovely Christmas and new years. hope you like this one! stay tuned! will be updating a few more chapters later today
Chapter 11
Bella POV
School couldn't have been worse today. First I fell flat on my face and to make it that little bit more humiliating, Edward was the one that helped me up. He's properly still laughing his ass off about it.
Urghhhhh
I had a pop quiz in biology and hadn't read the material, too preoccupied with dreams of green eyes and freaking out about them. Edwards always known of ways to get under my skin. He knows the right words to say to make me so angry that I could hit him. Like last year.
And to top it all off my crappy day wasn't over yet. I had to go meet the idiot himself.
I pulled the keys out of the ignition and thought about why Edward helped me up. I'd fallen over tons of times in front of him. Most of those times were because of him actually and he's never lifted a finger to help me back up. But this morning he was there, steadying me as I swayed slightly. When I saw his face I was sure that he'd just came over to laugh at me but he sounded concerned as his fingers touched my wrist. He was gentle with me.
And what about the other day in art?
It was him who asked me to meet him at the fountain. He sat so close to me then. And he smiled a smile that I've never really seen before.
I shook my head.
Don't be silly. He wants his A and if his partner is damaged then that damages his chances of getting one.
I glanced at the clock on the dash, I been sat here for almost ten minutes, parked outside a café that was across the street from the square.
I sighed and opened the door, grabbed my backpack and slammed the heavy door shut behind me.
I crossed the street cautious of the few cars that were on the road and of what was going to happen when I reached our meeting place.
I paused at the edge of the square, my eyes scanned the area and my heart skipped a beat when I saw that Edward was already here sitting down on the edge of the fountain. His back was towards me, but it was defiantly him. His bronze hair caught the afternoon sunshine and shone a little. He had on a beat up leather jacket on
I was genuinely surprised that he'd gotten here on time. I thought maybe he might have turned up late, just to annoy the heck out of me.
I shrugged, heaving my bag over my shoulder and walked towards him.
I stopped at his side, he didn't move for a few moments, his head turned towards a group of freshman. They were playing with a Frisbee on the grass a few feet away.
"Hi" I said after a couple of seconds had passed, he was smiling a little when he turned towards me but it dropped a little when he looked up at me, His eyes studied my face for a few seconds
I wish I'd slept last night, I properly looked like crap
He looked away for a second then got to his feet, shoving his hands in his pockets
"Hi, Bella." He nodded.
What the heck is this? He was being nice now?
"Let's get this over with" I murmured
I followed him over to an empty picnic table on the edge of the square and sat down. Edward sat the opposite side.
There were a lot of people out today. It's the sunshine's fault. This little town hardly gets any. My eyes wandered over to the kids from our school. They were laughing loudly and one of the guys had one of the girls over his shoulder, she was yelling loudly but laughing too.
I smiled, a little envious of those kids having fun in the sunshine
Edward dropped his sketchbook down on the table; making me jump a little.
"Nice weather today" he looked up at me.
Huh?
I looked at his face; he was smiling slightly at me. He gazed back at me; There was something different about his eyes.
I tore my gaze away from his and pulled my sketchbook from my bag.
"Someone's in a good mood" I said, pointing out the obvious.
He shrugged "as a matter of fact I am" he spoke softly and opened his sketch book.
"Ok then" I said looking anywhere but his face.
The seconds ticked by, he just stated down at his sketchbook. I waited for him say something. And kept on waiting.
Out of habit I began tapping my pencil on the pages of my sketchbook.
….
Edwards POV
That rhythmic tapping was driving me crazy.
Without thinking, I reached across the table and covered my hand with hers.
The tapping silenced immediately and Bella looked up at me. I mean really looked at me. Her beautiful brown eyes wide and curious, the sunlight filtering through the trees and making her long locks shine red slightly.
I felt a small shock of electricity pass through me. Tingling in my fingertips and moving down my entire body, warming me as it went. I tried to speak, but the words caught in my throat, all I could do was search her face.
Had she felt it too?
A split second had passed and the colour of her cheeks changed, turning a light pink. She was blushing. Something she did a lot I'd noticed - Usually if she was embarrassed or uncomfortable- But there was something in her eyes that told me she felt neither. But I couldn't be sure. After everything that had happened between us, she had every right to be mad.
Before I could conjure up enough courage to talk, her hand was gone from underneath mine. Her hair pulled forward, so I couldn't read her expression.
I picked up my own pencil, clearing my unspoken words from my throat.
"I have no idea what to do" I confessed, fiddling with the edges of the blank page that were staring up at me.
Bella's eyes lifted then, her eyes cooler. She was visibly grateful that I was the one the break the silence.
"What have you done so far?" she asked me, stretching over the table to look at my work. A light frown appeared when she noticed that there was nothing on the page except my name.
"Its blank" she said, looking up at me.
"I know that" my voice was thick "What have you done so far then?" I asked, eying Bella up and down for a quick second.
It's only been a few days, what could she possibly have done in that short amount a time?
I watched as she reached into her school bag, a moment later she pulled a black folder, took several sheets out and laid them across the table.
Tentatively, my fingers hovered over one of the sheets. I picked up the one closet to me and studied it.
In the centre of the page the word fear was written in big bold letters. And all around this word were annotations, pictures cut out from magazines, stills from famous horror movies scenes and at the bottom of the page was a drawing of a woman, wearing an expression that could only be described as sheer terror.
I was stunned.
"You do this?" I pointed to the sketch of the woman, my eyebrows raised.
"Of course" she nodded slightly
Wow, she really was a great artist.
This project was going to be a breeze for Bella. I wasn't even sure she needed me at all
And that thought made me feel inadequate, and I'd never felt like that before.
I frowned, suddenly angry. She'd done so much work in hardly anytime at all. Disappointment flooded my stomach and I felt stupid, unworthy and very very jealous.
"Such a fucking show off." I mumbled. Immediately regretting the words I'd just spoken, I was doing so well!
I watched as the small smile on her face disappeared. Her expression was guarded now
Edward you fucking idiot!
She pulled the piece of paper from my hand, and hurriedly gathered the other papers, roughly shoving them back into the folder.
"I knew this was a bad idea" she slammed her sketchbook shut and pushed that, along with the folder into her bag.
She was on her feet before I could say or do anything
"I came here today thinking that maybe you'd take this seriously, but big surprise your being an asshole. We need this grade. So do us both a favour and stop messing around and actually do something." She slung her bag over her shoulder and stepped over the wooden seat
"You are not fucking this up for me Cullen" she said scowling. A second later she turned and walked away.
I stared after her, annoyed at myself. I'd hurt her feelings
She was right. I am an asshole.
….
Bella's POV
"Arghhhh" I slammed my front door shut, dropped my bag and kicked it. It went sliding across the wooden floor and I watched as it hit the bottom stair.
"Bella? Everything ok?" Pam's voice floated down the hallway.
"Yeah, everything's just fine" I called back. Shrugging off my coat, I placed it on the hook as I made my way towards the kitchen.
I entered the room and headed straight to the refrigerator.
"Sarcasm is not worth the effort" she was stood in front of the counter top, her hands busy dishing up whatever had my stomach growling loudly.
"What's up?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at me.
I kicked the fridge door shut and crossed the small space to stand next to her.
Pamela was just a little taller than me, her long blonde hair tied back in to pony. She had these electric blue eyes that I've been extra jealous off since I've known her. She was dressed in black jogging bottoms and one of my dad's white t-shirts.
I shook my head at her question; the anger in me had subsided but was still bubbling silently beneath the surface. I grabbed the bowl of bread and went to sit down at the already set table.
A few moments later, Pam joined me, two plates in her hands. She placed mine in front of me then set the other down at her set place.
It was steak marinated with her secret recipe sauce, with a few green vegetables on the side.
Hmmm
Pam sat down and began eating, not taking her eyes off me.
I sighed, stabbing my fork into a piece of broccoli. I swallowed and filled my fork again.
She raised her eyebrows at me, expecting an answer.
After another mouth full I put my fork down
"I'm just annoyed." I told her
"About?" she asked, taking a sip of wine
"Well, I've been working on this project. I mean it's really important. Worth 60 percent of my grade. And we have to work with a partner. And I'm that lucky that my partner is a superficial dickhead that doesn't actually give a damn. Even though he needs to do well too." I took a deep breath and picked up my knife and fork. I cut a piece of streak off and chewed slowly
It tasted amazing.
"Wow, he really must have pissed you off" her eyebrows were raised
I remained silent, concentrating on chewing.
"So, who is he then?" she suddenly asked
I really didn't want to tell her. She knows everything about what happened last year. She and dad had been together for a few weeks when it all happened.
"Oh, he's a nobody" I waved my hand and stared down at my now half empty plate.
Please don't ask me again
"Do I know him?" she asked putting down her fork
I nodded, reaching out for my big glass of water; I took large gulps and only stopped when there was nothing left.
I coughed and fidgeted in my seat.
"Well?" she urged
"Edwardcullen" I mumbled, saying it so quickly his name went into one
"Who?" she asked confused
I took a deep breath
"Edward Cullen" I said a little louder
Realization washed over her face
"Oh" she sighed
"Exactly" my eyes were on my food again.
I waited for her to say something but she remained quiet and we sat in silence while we finished our dinner.
I helped her clean up and was on my way out of the kitchen when Pam called my name.
"I know you and Edward have got issues but everyone deserves a second chance" she smiled lightly.
I opened my mouth to object but she held up her hand.
"I know, I know. Superficial dickhead. Just think about it ok?"
I gave her a small nod and continued with dinner, she asked me about school, and asked how Alice and Rosalie were.
While we were washing dishes, the house phone rang.
Pam dried her hands and picked up the receiver.
"Hello…Charlie?...yes everything's fine…we've just finishing dinner…sure…sure…here…" she held the phone out for me. A huge grin on her face.
"Hi Dad"
"Hey Bells, how it's going?" he was talking quite loud, and I could here a lot of noise in the background.
"It's good. How's things your end?" I asked, I heard someone yell something to Charlie.
"Two seconds Bella" he must have held the phone to his chest because everything went muffled and a few seconds later he was back
"Sorry about that, its crazy here" it was a lot quieter now.
"That's ok, so it's going well there?" I hoped he had a little bit of information for me.
"It's going really well; I'm on a site at the moment, which explains the noise. I think this could be the one, I'll email you some photos when I get a spare few minutes. You're going to love it here. "
"I'm sure I will, do you think you'll be back any sooner?" I asked.
"I don't think I will be, if anything I'll be away a little longer. If all goes to plan, and I hope it does, I can oversee the beginning of the build."
"Wow" I breathed, everything was happening so fast.
"I know, look I gotta get back, take care Bella, can you pass me to Pamela please?"
"Sure, bye dad" I handed the phone back to Pam and went to finish the dishes.
When everything was put away, I was exhausted. Pam eyed me as she wiped down the work tops.
"You should get to bed; I'll lock up when I leave ok?" I shuffled over to her and gave her a quick hug then yawned.
"Thanks for dinner. It was amazing as always" I mumbled, sleepily.
"It's ok Bella. Goodnight." She said softly, I could feel my eyes growing heavier with every passing second.
"Night" I called as I traipsed slowly along the hallway. I picked up my discarded bag from the floor and climbed the stairs.
I had changed into my pj's and was just getting into bed when I heard Pam lock the front door. A few moments later I was drifting into another dream of those green eyes.
