Edward's POV

I showed up at Bella's house right after Charlie had left for work. As far as Charlie knew Bella was single and was not involved with the supernatural…or Facebook…or stalking class…the more I thought about it the more it seemed that Charlie wasn't a very good father. That, or Bella was just really good at hiding things from him. Surely he's been a little bit suspicious about how much time Bella spends with the Cullens? Either way I didn't want to question it. The less he knew the better.

I knocked on the door and put on my best 'I'm sorry' face. Bella opened the door and closed it again once she saw me, I heard her feet padding away from the door. Normally I would accept that she didn't want to see me and I would give her space but today was different. She wanted to see what I looked like in the sunlight and so today she would. If she would forgive me. I opened the door and walked into the kitchen where Bella was making breakfast.

"What do you want?" Bella snapped taking her toast out of the toaster and covering it in butter and jam.

"I want to apologise for lying to you." I began, taking a seat at the table.

"You've apologised enough. I don't need to hear it. I've taken some time and I forgive you, but I still don't understand. I get why human guys lie to girls and I get why shape shifter guys have to lie but I don't know why vampires have to lie. Especially you, the one vampire who is supposed to be honest with me and tell me everything." Bella sat down opposite me.

"You really think I meant to lie to you? The Denalis showed up unexpectedly and it would have been rude of me to dash off without saying hello. Time seemed to get away from me and I'm sorry. I won't lie to you ever again. Please Bella, try to understand. I even think I have a way to make things up to you, if you'll come with me today."

"What are you doing today? Don't you have a class to teach?"

"Not today, it's a sunny day today. And I want to show you why I avoid sunlight. Emmett is covering the class as a favour to me."

"Won't Emmett also be affected by the sun?"

"Yes, but he's willing to take the risk. I was mad at him for what he did over the weekend and so he needs to make it up to me. Please come with me."

"Do I really have to see you burn in the sun? I don't like the idea of you getting hurt even if it is to make it up to me."

"How many times do I have to tell you we are not like movie vampires? We don't burst into flames, we don't die, we don't melt but it's hard to explain."

"Okay I'll go with you. But I'm still mad and don't even think about dazzling me."

"Fine,"

We sat in silence as Bella had breakfast and while she was getting dressed I washed her dishes and put them away. When Bella came back downstairs I lifted her onto my back and ran to the meadow. It was still quite early and cloudy so I had some time to prepare myself. I set Bella down so she could take in our surroundings.

"We could have just walked you know." She said walking around the meadow.

"I know, but it wouldn't have been the same." I smiled as I got a text from Alice telling me the sun was going to come out soon and that I should relax. Yeah right, she wasn't about to show her new girlfriend that she sparkled in the sun.

I was so nervous, what was Bella going to think of me when she saw me sparkle like a fairy? I thought I would be okay with this but I was suddenly feeling very self-conscious. She might laugh…or even worse – take pictures. But even if she did take pictures would they turn out well? I've never taken a picture of a vampire in the sunlight so I'm not sure on the quality, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. As long as she didn't put the photos on the internet. I wouldn't know how to explain to my family that my girlfriend exposed us by putting photos of me on Facebook.

"Who was that?" Bella asked as I put my phone away.

"Alice, she wants me to relax."

"I thought Jasper was the one that can feel what you're feeling."

"He is, but when Alice sees one of us doing something a little bit out of character she has to make sure all of us who have a special ability use it to the fullest. Which means having Jasper on standby in case I start feeling weird."

"Oh, it must be weird to feel what everyone else is feeling."

"It wasn't so bad for Jasper when he and Alice came to live with us. Rosalie and Emmett came not that long after and they were often filled with lust…and then so was Jasper. He didn't complain and neither did Alice. But now that the lust is gone and rarely returns, he's pretty normal. He only feels strong emotions from others so it's not so bad."

"How does he cope with everyone at school?"

I laughed. "He doesn't really. He blocks most of them out. He decided this year he didn't want to enrol in school and so he's the school's guidance councillor instead. He's the best in the business because he can really feel what everyone else is feeling. He can also manipulate their feelings which is a big help."

"That's so cool. Do you think when I'm a vampire I'll have a special ability?"

"Maybe, I hope I can read your mind when you become a vampire because I'd really like to know what you think about."

"You'd only like to know what I think when I'm happy with you but right now I don't think you want to know. I know I'm being calm right now but when this show is over I want to go home and have some time to myself."

"Ugh…Jasper and Emmett are so lucky!"

"What do you mean by that?"

Oh no. Now I was in more trouble. I could easily tell that Bella was going through PMS, she was all jumpy and paranoid and her emotions were all over the place and she was very sensitive. Which meant no matter what I said she was probably going to get mad at me anyway.

"Oh look, the sun!" I pointed up at the sky, the clouds were parting so the sun could shine through. I walked away from Bella so I could open my shirt so she could see more clearly, I was also trying to show off a bit and dazzle her.

Bella's POV

Edward turned away from me and began to undo his shirt…what was he doing? If he was stripping it was so not the right time for that. When the sun came down through the clouds he turned to face me.

I stood in shock, all thoughts and feelings had left me, I was truly dazzled andcould see why this would be a problem if he was in public right now. Edward's skin looked like it was embedded with diamonds. He was sparkling. It was amazing and I don't know why he felt like he had to hide it from me.

"Well?" Edward asked after a minute. He sounded self-conscious.

"You're beautiful…" I was surprised when the words left my mouth because I didn't think I was capable of speaking.

"You really think so?"

"Yes, I don't get it…how is this even possible?"

"I don't know. Carlisle wants to move somewhere sunny to do some research but we refuse to risk exposure to humans. If we walked out into the middle of the straight on a day like this, we'd be killed almost instantly by the Volturi."

"Ah, more special vampire rules."

"They aren't exactly rules. Just one rule: don't expose yourself to the humans. But I've broken it at least five times already."

"Yet you're still here."

"Well its' not like I went to a festival or something and showed myself to everyone in the sun. you're one person and you wouldn't tell anyone would you?"

"I don't know. I'm still mad at you."

"I don't get why you're mad at me. I was trying to protect you from being killed by other vampires!"

"Vampires like you who wouldn't hurt me!"

"That's not a guarantee. They could have hurt you. I didn't know if they would find your blood as appealing as I do and I didn't want to take that chance."

"Do you need to hunt? Is that what it is? Did you not get enough when you were out with your friends?"

"I am perfectly fine. I think it's you that isn't feeling alright today Bella. Is it 'that time of the month'?"

"SHUT UP! It happens okay?"

"Bella I'm sorry…" Edward buttoned up his shirt again and then he came to put his arms around me. "I know I went too far and I didn't mean to."

"I think you did mean to go that far and that you did want to say that and make me mad. I think we should just give up on this."

"Give up on what?"

"I just want to be left alone for a while Edward. I told you, I need time."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, especially now that I'm on my period. I'm sure it's not easy for you to be around me when you can smell blood and all that."

"Okay, I'll take you back home."

Edward lifted me onto his back and we went back to my house. When we got there he opened the door and set me down on the sofa in the living room. He stayed with me until I stopped feeling dizzy and was about to leave when his phone rang.

"Hello?" Edward said into the phone. There was a lot of loud and fast talking from his phone. "Emmett? ... Really? ... Mike? ... What about the party? ... Alice is going to be so disappointed... Yeah ... At least it's done ... I really wish I could have been there... You did? ... Sweet! We have to upload it to YouTube! ... Okay ... Look I'm just about to leave Bella's so meet me in the forest out back... Okay... Bye." Edward hung up his phone and turned back to me. "Mike's been sent to the crazy house early. We finally got him."

"Well that's one less thing to worry about."

"Are you going to be okay alone?"

"Edward I'll be fine. I told you I wanted to be alone and I will be, if you go."

"Okay, goodbye Bella."

"Bye Edward."

He kissed me on the forehead before leaving. I stared after him for a long time. What just happened? My boyfriend sparkles in the sun, we had a fight, Mike was sent away…what a day.

I still didn't know how to feel about Edward lying to me. I knew he was just trying to protect me but I think we are past the point where he needs to protect me. Especially from vampires just like him. He could have just told me about them and everything would be okay but no…he just had to keep it a secret. And on top of that, he sparkles in the sun. Why did he not tell me sooner? It doesn't change how I feel about him. It's just something else I will have to get used to when I become a vampire.

Then there's Mike. I wonder what he did to push Emmett over the edge to get him sent away early. Probably not a lot. Mike just has a way of pissing people off so I guess it could have been anything.

I decided to log into Facebook to see if I could get more answers about what happened to Mike. Apparently he was claiming that the Cullens eat people? Wow. He really had gone insane. Someone in the stalking class had secretly recorded him and posted it online. I felt a little bit bad for him. Did we really do this to him? Or was he always this way and we didn't notice until now? Either way he was going away for a long time…

I decided to update my own Facebook status for the day and also delete the old one I made where I called Edward a vampire. That probably wasn't helping Mike's whole 'the Cullens eat people' thing.

Bella's status update: I heard Mike got sent to a mental asylum. You miss a lot when you're not at school.
Jessica commented: HA I knew you ditched! Why did you ditch?
Bella commented: Because Edward wanted to show me something.
Jessica: Ooh he wanted to 'show' you something. *wink wink*
Bella: Not that.
Jessica: Oh come on Bella, how have you not tapped that yet?
Bella: Jessica I am not talking to you about that.
Jessica: Fine…

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