Chapter 36

As far back as I can remember, I've been a horrible liar. I pretty much would always cave and admit to anything almost before my parents suspected it. So the first time I successfully lied to Renee was a shock.

It went down like this: when I first started hanging out with James, it was purely platonic. He seemed more interested in getting me to smoke pot than touching me. Eventually that happened, but I clearly remember the first time he convinced me to smoke a joint with him, that was it. I was still high when he dropped me off, though, and pretty giggly. Renee gave me a sly look and asked if I'd finally kissed a boy. I stammered and blushed and finally said "y-yes." Which was a lie, but the point was, I was guilty of something. After I'd come down, I replayed the incident and realized that the best way to get away with something was to admit to a lesser crime. Because I was still not that great of a liar. My guilt was always going to be written all over my face. Or whatever emotion I happened to be feeling…

But the first line of defense was avoidance, of course. That night I'd tried to sneak into my bedroom, but when Renee caught me that was out. This Tuesday, though, I was still a little unnerved, and I knew that if I spent any time alone with Edward, he'd notice it.

So, first things first – I texted him that I had to drive myself to school the rest of the week. He replied "k" and nothing else. I planned out what I was going to say to him when I saw him. When I got to school, he was almost on me before I got out of the truck.

We kissed briefly then I dropped the "bombshell": Charlie had gotten on my case last night about spending all my time with "the boyfriend."

"I thought your dad liked me," he murmured, taken aback.

"He does like you, he just thinks you've been monopolizing my time." I pretended to hesitate, then said, "I mean, he wants me to have other friends besides – besides you and Alice."

He nodded slowly. "Do you want to maybe have a double-date this weekend?"

"I dunno. Let's just get through the rest of the week first, ok?"

He walked me to my English class and kissed my cheek. "I'm still going to call you every night," he teased.

"Of course," I said.

Mike was looking at me funny when I got into my seat. I looked back at him, and he shrugged.

"Everything ok?"

"Just fine, and you?"

He scowled. "Jess is hinting about prom."

"You mean you aren't going to take her?"

"Of course I'm going to take her, it's just a pain."

I smiled. "At least you don't have to wear a dress."

"Ha, no, but those suits are bad enough. I'm trying to talk her into doing something for spring break, but it looks like that's a no go unless we do prom too."

Oh, right. Spring break was next week. I sure wouldn't be able to avoid Edward then. Not that I really wanted to. "Are your parents really going to let you go off alone with her?"

"No, but they'll let me go with Eric and Conner," he smirked. "Maybe you and Cullen could come?" That invitation was definitely half-hearted.

"My dad definitely will not let me do anything like that."

He nodded, then the bell rang.

I met Jess after our trig class and said, "Are you really going off on spring break with Newton?"

She looked delighted that I was asking, and started talking about their trip to Ocean Shores. Her mom wasn't being a tyrant about it, apparently, which was surprising. I could not see even Renee allowing me to spend a week with my boyfriend, even if there were other people with us. But Jessica had a cousin who lived there, and she agreed to vouch for them. I didn't exactly understand how that worked, since they weren't having spring break the same time as us, but whatever. The bell rang before I even thought about asking.

In Spanish we were reminded of our test on Thursday, and Jess asked if I wanted to study with her tomorrow night. I agreed, glad for the excuse. I also had an English paper due tomorrow, but I'd nearly finished polishing off one of my old essays for it. Mike was bitching about it during lunch, though.

Edward and Alice sat with me as usual, but he was clearly disappointed that he wouldn't be seeing me again after Biology. Angela asked if I needed to use the restroom, and I recognized the signal.

In the stalls she asked if everything was ok, and I said sure, but gave the excuse I'd given Edward this morning.

"Ugh, yeah, my dad thinks I spend too much time with Ben too," she complained. "Even though we don't see each other on Tuesdays and Saturdays."

"Why not those days?" I asked.

"Tuesday is new comic day," she grinned. "And Saturday he watches Kung-Fu movies with Austin. I tried to join in a few times, but…" She just rolled her eyes.

I grasped onto her words. "So you aren't seeing him tonight? Cos it's Tuesday?"

"Right. Did you want to do something?"

"Oh Angela, you are a lifesaver," I gushed. "Yeah, if you come over maybe Charlie will relent."

We walked back to Biology, making arrangements; Angela would come over after dinner. Edward was sitting at our table, and clearly overheard. I whispered to him about getting Charlie to relent if he sees me spending time with Angela and Jessica.

"Jessica?"

"We're studying for Spanish tomorrow night."

"Ah." He pursed his lips, then the bell rang and we couldn't really talk anymore.

It was nice hanging out with Angela – we just watched TV, then gossiped about how far we were going with our boyfriends. She had been dating Ben longer than I'd been dating Edward, but he was her very first boyfriend, and she spent a lot more time with him chaperoned than I did. And while she wasn't as religious as her father, she didn't want to throw all that off. "The further you go, the harder it'll be if something else goes wrong."

"You're already thinking about breaking up with him?"

"Of course not! But you know, it might happen."

I gave her a look. "But you were just telling me how you both want exactly the same things out of life, and – I mean, ok, I know you've only been together a few months, and I'm just seeing this on the outside, but you guys are so perfect together." I paused for a minute, then continued, "And I wouldn't just say that, you know. I sure as hell wouldn't tell this to Jessica about Newton."

She giggled. "Thanks, Bella. I feel that way too but sometimes, well, you know, it's like, too good to be true."

"I mean, I sure don't know that about me and Edward," I added.

"Aww, you're just saying that because you miss him."

I wasn't. But I couldn't tell her why.