Chapter Thirteen

Different

EPOV

We had left my car back at the school parking lot. Bella promised me that after we were done with whatever we were going to do her sister was going to take my car to my aunt's house; which was weird because she didn't even leave the key to my car for her sister.

"Where are we going?" I asked as she drove through the unknown streets of Forks. It was ridiculous, really, that I had lived here for weeks and hadn't really been out of my aunt's house to see what Forks could offer, not that it seemed like much.

"Well since you didn't eat at lunch I'd figure you'd be hungry so I'm taking you to the diner." I was surprised that she was worrying about me and if I had had experiences with friends I would say it was because of that but I really had never had a really close friend so I didn't know how that worked.

"I'm not hungry." I said but at the same moment my stomach growled and she turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow. "Okay fine, I have no money."

"No worries, I have some." She said still looking at me.

"Please turn your eyes back to the road." I pleaded when I saw that a car wanted to get in front of us.

"You worry too much." She said as she did what I asked.

"I'm not going to let you pay for anything that has to do with me." She didn't say anything as I watched her park in front of the diner. When the car was parked she turned it off and turned to me with a serious expression.

"Humor me." She then got out of the car and waited in front of it for me. I sighed as I gave up and got out to meet her at the front of the car. We walked to the diner and when I was close to the door I held it open for her. She seemed a little surprised but shook her head and went in.

She led us to a booth where there were no people around and sat down on one side. I followed her lead and sat in front of her. Pretty soon a waitress came and took my order. Bella said she wasn't hungry so she only ordered a glass of water. After the waitress left to get my order I looked down at my hands not believing that I was actually friends with Bella and that I was spending more time than I thought we would together.

"So you faint at the sight of blood?" She asked and I could hear a smile. I looked up and narrowed my eyes at her, she instantly became serious. I couldn't help but smile.

"I don't faint at the sight of blood I faint at the smell. It smells like rust and salt."

"I never thought people could smell blood."

"I'm different."

"I know." I was going to ask what she meant but the waitress came and set down my food in front of me. As soon as I saw it I felt hungrier than I had felt in weeks. Pretty soon I was almost finished until I felt what I had eaten wanting to come back up my throat. I set the fork down and put a hand to my stomach.

"Edward, are you okay?" I couldn't answer because right as she asked I felt that I couldn't keep it down much longer so I stood up and ran outside. I didn't have time to look for the bathrooms and I really didn't want to throw up in the middle of the restaurant. As soon as I was outside I ran to the trash can that was right at the corner of the diner and threw up all of the contents that I had just devoured. When my stomach was empty I looked up and found Bella handing over a water bottle and a napkin.

"Thanks." I took a swig of water without letting my lips touch the bottle and then threw the water onto the trash can. After that I repeated the process and then finally I wiped my mouth.

"Here." I looked up and noticed that she was handing over a pack of gum to me. I took a piece out and tried to return it but she told me that she didn't like to chew gum. "Are you feeling better?" She asked.

"Yeah." I answered embarrassed.

"I think we should take you to the hospital." I shook my head.

"I'm fine."

"What if it's food poisoning Edward? I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you." She said and I could see that she meant it by the way she looked at me. I sighed and sat down at the picnic table that they had out here for when the day was nice. Which I doubt that ever happened, the only day which had been nice had been my first day of school, I mean there had been some clouds but no rain.

"It's not food poisoning Bella." I really didn't want to tell her my life story but if it would save me from a trip to the hospital I would do it. I preferred that than going to the place I detested so much.

"Then what is it?" She asked as she sat down next to me.

"Do you know why I came to live with my aunt Bella?"

"No." She said confused. I sighed one more time before I started to tell her why I had been sent to this hell that didn't seem so bad now for obvious reasons.

"Last year on December 25th I was at home waiting for my parents to come from a business trip. I don't know if you remember that that day in the Midwest there had been many snowstorms and blizzards with winds of up to 50 miles an hour. It was really bad outside and they had called early that morning saying that they were probably not going to make it in time for our Christmas dinner.

"I knew it war really stupid of me but I got mad because we had already made plans and I had really looked forward to celebrating the holidays with them. We even had plans to go to New York for New Year's. My mom and dad knew me well that they knew how upset I was so they promised that they would arrive and have dinner just like it had been planned. I was waiting for hours watching the news and they said that it was not safe to be outside that people might've wanted to enjoy the holidays inside.

"I turned off the TV at midnight angry that they hadn't arrived so I just went to sleep. The next morning I woke up to a knock on the door and when I went downstairs I saw Gina, my nana, there talking to officers through tears. I went up to them and the officers apologized to me saying that my mom and dad had been in an accident with a semi and that there had been no survivors." I hadn't noticed that I had tears running down my cheeks until one fell on my hand. I took a deep breath.

"My mom and dad said in their will that they wanted me to come live with my aunt until I was old enough to live on my own and that by that time their money was going to be given to me to use it however I wanted. My dad made his lawyer sell the companies because he knew that I didn't want to take over them. The thing is that when I came here my aunt told me that I wasn't allowed anywhere near her that I was only to stay in my room after school.

"She said that I could only come out of my room to take a shower or to go to the bathroom." I was going to keep going but Bella interrupted me.

"What about eating?"

"She said that she wasn't going to feed me. That if I wanted to eat it had to be at school. She also said that she wasn't going to give me any money at all to pay for the gas for my car or for lunch at school."

"Is that even legal? She can't do that to you."

"She can and she is keeping pretty good on her promise." She was staring straight ahead shaking her head.

"She can't do that to you," She repeated. "I could send her to jail… it's like child abuse."

"I don't think I'm so young any more Bella." She looked at me and glared.

"Why are you letting her do this to you?"

"I can't do anything about it Bella. I'm lucky enough that she's giving me a place to sleep." It was as if I hadn't even spoken.

"Does she want to kill you or something? What did you ever do to her? I don't think it would have been that bad to tell you that she wasn't going to feed you."

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does Edward." She said as she stood up. "You can get sick from not eating and look at what just happened. You haven't eaten much lately that your body is getting used to it and now that you are eating you are throwing it all back out."

"In a few more months I'll be eighteen Bella and everything will be fine again."

"Yeah Edward, but that is still far and what if during that time you get sick and have to be hospitalized or something."

"I guess that if that time come-"

"Don't even say it. Just because your aunt is not giving you money and you think you have no one to help you, you do." I couldn't think of anyone who actually could.

"Really, who?" She looked at me as if waiting for me to tell her. I was still clueless though. She sighed and sat right down by me. She looked at me straight in the eyes.

"You have me. I won't let anything hurt you." For some odd reason I don't think she was just talking about what was happening right now but of anything that happened before I left. "You don't believe me do you?"

"Yes, I do. You saved me from a branch that could have killed me Bella I know you are going to keep your promise." We stared at each other for a minute and by looking at her eyes I got lost in the intensity that she was looking at me with. I looked down at her lips and started to lean in until she stood up from her seat besides me.

"Let's take you home." She said and started walking. I stayed still in my spot trying to control the feeling of rejection that washed over me. It was as if a ton of bricks had been dropped down on top of me. I felt like an idiot for thinking that she might have wanted for a moment to kiss me just as much as I had. "Are you coming?" She asked. I tried to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat.

"Do you mind if I walk home?" I asked as soon as I knew that I was going to be able to get the words out. She looked at me for a minute trying to probably guess why I had asked that. I turned my head down to look at my hands trying hard to think about something else.

"I'd rather take you home if you don't mind. I don't want you to faint again."

"I didn't faint." I knew I sounded like a little kid that had probably just being yelled at by his mom.

"Please let me take you home. If you want you don't have to talk to me, you don't even have to look at me. I would really rather take you home and make sure that you arrive safely." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Let's go." I said as I stood up. She waited for me until I made it to her side before she led the way to her car. I was such an idiot why did I let my emotions get the better of me. We got into her car and she drove home without saying anything to me. When we made it to my aunt's house I opened the door. I was about to get out before I heard her say my name. I turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry." It wasn't her fault she wasn't the one that got carried away.

"It's fine." It doesn't matter; you deserve someone better than me. I thought. I then got out of the car and walked into the house. Before I closed the door behind me I noticed that my car was back in its place.

Okay, I'm really sorry for such a long time without updating. So now that that's over I wanted to ask you guys if you've read the Eclipse Novella. I read it yesterday and it's so good so for those of you who want to read it but can't buy it for some unknown reason Stephenie is letting us fans read it for free. Go to her website and it gives you the website to the story. It's so good. I hope you guys read it and enjoy it as much as I did. And I promise to update sooner.