A New World Full of Strangers
Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use.
Chapter 53: Matchmaking
When we finally get in the van, after a scolding from Esme about being a half hour late, Emmett calls back to me from the front seat.
"Hey Bella! You should have seen Aurora yelling at these two kids out on the street who were making fun of Jacob!"
"Emmett!" shouts Edward. "What happened to 'let's just keep this between the four of us'?"
"Hey!" he says. "I just thought that we didn't want Renesmee to find out."
Jasper and Edward exchange a look of pure frustration.
"Oh, how did they do that?" I ask. "The two kids I mean."
"They called him an Injun and a red-skin," he says.
"How did Aurora get involved?" Alice asks.
"Well, these guys were dissing my boy," he explains. "And she heard them. Man, did she nail them."
"I thought Jacob was your dog," comments Rosalie.
"Jacob is family," answers Emmett. "And nobody messes with my family."
"It was just as well that Aurora stepped in," says Edward. "Those kids weren't done with the ethnic slurs. They must sit up at night thinking up ways of insulting the First Nations people."
"How close was he?" I ask, knowing that everyone would know what I was talking about.
"Too close," says Edward. "It's a good thing that Jasper was there to calm him down. He hasn't phased in a while, but he nearly transformed in front of everyone."
"Well," says Jasper. "I also needed to calm down Emmett."
"You're lucky that he gave you the time," says Edward. "He was standing there trying to calculate just how hard he could hit them without breaking any bones."
"Well, that was because of what they said about Bella," replies Emmett defensively. "They were actually wondering if I could hit them as hard as she hit Kai. Yeah, right! Like I can't hit as hard as that little punk."
"Arm wrestling," I say smugly. "Remember?"
"Hey!" he says. "You were a newborn. You can't beat me now."
I roll my eyes, annoyed because he is right.
"No, they weren't wondering about your comparative strength at all," says Edward. "They were trying to figure out what the biggest insult was that they could make to you to set you off. They went with the 'are you stronger than your little sister' one because they figured that one was the worst one. They were spoiling for a fight, although I can't think of why."
"They were right about the insult," Emmett admits. "But those kids were smaller than the four of us. They must have been high on something."
"Weed," says Jasper. "I could smell it on them. Couldn't you?"
"I was too busy being pissed," says Emmett.
"I was focused on trying to listen to five minds at the same time," says Edward.
"This is boring," complains Alice. "Why don't we tell them about our shoes, girls?"
"No!" say the rest of us firmly.
Then everyone laughs except for Alice. She pouts.
"So Bella!" says Edward when we finally get home. "How was shoe shopping?"
"Is that a joke?" I ask. "You know very well that Alice was totally out of control and Rosalie wasn't much better. After a while, I realized that she was just trying on shoes so that she could see how great her legs looked with the high heels in the mirror."
"And you picked the first pair you tried on," he guesses.
"Naturally," I say. "I'm sure glad that vampires don't get sore feet from standing. Although it got kind of annoying after a while with Alice reminding me about shifting my weight from side to side."
"That does get old," he admits. "Especially when you're forced to stand still for so long. It's much easier to just stop moving completely."
"And look like a statue," I grimace.
"That too," he says. "Listen, I have to talk to you about something before Renesmee gets home. Let's go to our room."
When we arrive, he lounges on the bed and holds out his arm for me so that I can cuddle up to him.
"Love, I hate to say this, but some of our 'high school drama' problems are being caused by the fact that you are becoming too friendly with the humans," he says gently.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"There are some very good reasons why the Cullens have always kept their distance from the humans in high school," he replies. "I suspect that your human memories are dim of that time, but even after the others graduated, Alice and I only stayed on the fringes of your group of friends. We wanted you to be able to keep your human friends, but we also had to be very careful."
My memories of that time are very vague. I suppose that I was really trying to block out some of the more difficult personalities in the group, they weren't memories that I had been particularly inclined to keep.
When I was trying to preserve some of my human memories after I was changed, I had focused on my Edward memories. I didn't want to forget those human months together. But the rest had fallen away.
"I guess that I wasn't really thinking about it," I admit. "It was nice having Maggie as a friend and I really did want to help her. And then when she mentioned her friends Portia and Libby, I didn't want to lose her, so I welcomed them to eat lunch with us."
"Honey, I know that your intentions were good," he says. "And Maggie is different because she is Terah's sister and she is Renesmee's friend. But Libby can be difficult, and a potential problem. She likes to chatter just a little bit too much."
"Does she spread rumors?" I ask.
"No, she's not a gossip," I say. "But she is constantly looking for attention, so she talks a lot. And sometimes when she talks, she says things to make herself the center of attention. But that makes her dangerous, because in the flow of her conversations she can sometimes let things slip. The brain to mouth filter is not fully in place yet."
"Oh," I say. "But Portia doesn't talk a lot."
"Portia is exceptionally observant," he replies seriously. "She's even more dangerous than Maggie because her mind is very attuned to details and she has an excellent analytical brain.
"That kind of mind will make her a wonderful scientist some day, but at the moment it is a problem for us. She is the kind if person that we avoid because she is capable of figuring out what we are, given the right combination of data."
"Oh," I say. "So then I really should have let Alice do more talking for me."
"It's not so much what you have said," he answers. "It's the air of vulnerability that you project. And that brings me to our other problem, Tim."
"Do you feel the same way about Tim as you did about Mike Newton?" I ask.
"I wish it were that simple," he sighs. "Tim is an extremely decent young man. And I think that he genuinely likes you, what little he knows of you anyway."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Mike and a number of the other boys at Forks High School, saw you as the perfect girl who could fulfill all of their fantasies," he explains. "They projected an image of who they wanted you to be. But they never stopped talking long enough to discover who you really were. Mike was the most annoying because he became possessive of you early on."
"But what does that have to do with Tim?" I ask.
"You are frustrating Tim the way that you frustrated me," he answers. "Only I was doubly frustrated because I was used to reading minds. Unlike the other boys that want to ask you to the dance, he wants to get to know you first before he attempts to ask you. But you are doing your darnedest to remain the shy, uncommunicative girl that we told you to be."
"So he doesn't bother you?" I ask.
"If he did, then I wouldn't have suggested that we try to fix him up with Maggie," he says. "I like Maggie and I wouldn't want to inflict a jerk on her just to distract him from you."
"But why don't we just keep away from him," I say. "The first two dances are taken care of. Maybe he will lose interest."
"Not a chance," he replies. "And Rosalie made a good point about not being able to camp in forty below weather, not if we are supposed to be human anyway."
"So then what . . . "
But I don't get to finish my question, because Renesmee comes bursting in and bounces on our bed.
"Hi Momma! Hi Daddy!" she says. "How was school today?"
"It was great sweetie," says Edward. "How was your day?"
"It was great!" she says. "We learned about photosynthesis and then we went outside to pick up colored leaves and made collages."
"How was dance class?" I ask.
"It was fun!" she says. "Celine and I were laughing because her Papa doesn't want to be on stage. And then Becca was making funny faces at us."
"Sounds good!" says Edward getting up. "I think that we need to see Carlisle, Bella."
"Did I slip?" asks Renesmee.
"I'm afraid so, honey," he replies.
"Are you mad?" she asks anxiously.
"No," he sighs. "I kind of think you fell into that one."
I look at him curiously as we swiftly leave the room and find Carlisle in his office.
"Did she tell you?" he asks, looking up in surprise.
"No, she slipped," says Edward. "But this does add another layer to an already complicated situation."
"Yes, it does," he agrees.
"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" I ask in frustration.
"Apparently Terah confided in Renesmee that her sister, Maggie, has a crush on Edward," says Carlisle.
"What's the big deal?" I ask. "So do Pauline and half the freshmen girls."
"The big deal," explains Edward. "Is that Tim has drawn Maggie into the conspiracy to get you as a date for the Homecoming Dance. He asked her if it would be all right if he suggested to me that I ask her so that we could double date."
I roll my eyes thinking that only a vampire mind could follow that whole stream of nonsense.
"But we are going camping," I say.
"But as I told you just now," he says. "That doesn't solve the problem in the long term. As Rosalie pointed out earlier to you all, the camping excuse is not going to fly in temperatures below forty degrees. Remember, we aren't really humans."
"Could we go to Denali for the weekend?" I ask.
"Not driving at human speed," answers Edward. "Maybe we should invest in a small plane."
"Now that could be a very good idea," says Carlisle.
"It was meant to be a joke," answers Edward. "Why would we buy a plane just to get out of town whenever there was a dance and it was too cold to go camping."
"That wasn't what I was thinking of," says Carlisle. "Aurora has been telling me that one of the difficulties of getting medical help out to the villages is that I order for the doctors to get there in time in the case of an emergency, the only way to do it is to fly."
"The last time we were in Denali," replies Edward. "You got a pilot's license for that very reason."
"But the plane didn't seat ten," he replies. "Still, a larger plane could be useful for carrying medical supplies and equipment."
"I'm sure that we can figure out a way so that it could be rigged for either passenger travel or emergency medicine," adds Edward.
"I could set it up as a clinic on wings," continues Carlisle. "This has excellent possibilities."
"But it doesn't solve the problem at hand," I say. "Edward, how come you never noticed that Maggie has a crush on you?"
"I was too busy watching Tim's mind," he says. "But I guess when I watch her mind during science lab, I will find out more about it."
"I'm glad that you told us, Carlisle," I say. "It will help us keep Maggie from getting her feelings hurt. I hope."
"Well," says Carlisle. "Don't say anything about where you heard it. Apparently, Renesmee and Terah 'pinkie swore' that they would keep it a secret. Renesmee feels very bad about breaking her first pinkie swear."
"What's a pinkie swear?" asks Edward.
"It's an unbreakable promise that you make with a good friend," I say. "You've never heard of it? Carlisle, how did you know?"
"Oh, I've had to make many pinkie swears with kids over the course of my career in the ER," he says chuckling.
"Great!" says Edward as he rolls his eyes.
After we return to our room, I begin to plot my strategy for talking Maggie into asking Tim to the Sadie Hawkins Dance. Knowing that she has a crush on Edward makes it easier because now I am in the position of seeing if she wants to double with us if he says yes. Alice promises to keep an eye on the future, while Edward promises to keep an eye on both of their minds.
I make a point of getting to the lab first the next day. I quickly tap open my cell phone screen to see the words "green light" from Edward. I shove the phone in my bag and look back at Alice, who grins and gives me the thumbs up. I'm ready.
Luckily, the lab isn't too complicated and requires that we look to observe a reaction to a mixture, so we have time to talk. Since we are supposed to be discussing the lab with our partners, it is easy enough to talk in low voices without being noticed by the teacher. Maggie looks a little down today.
"Is everything okay, Maggie?" I ask her. "You look a little down today."
"Yeah," she says. "I'm just a little tired. And I'm not looking forward to lunch."
"Why not?" I ask. "Is your stomach bothering you?"
"No, it's just kind of hard to listen to everyone talking about the dance," she says. "I would like to go, but I'm so new in town that I don't have any cousins or old friends to ask."
"Yeah," I say. "I didn't really want to go, but Alice told me to go with Edward. We've been homeschooled and so we never went to school dances. The others were all going together, so that left Edward and me."
"Why didn't you want to go?" she asks.
"I don't like people looking at me," I say.
"Oh, I didn't think of that," she says. "I've never been to a school dance either except our eighth grade dances, but they are much different from high school dances."
"Why?" I ask curiously because I had never gone to any middle school dances in Phoenix.
"Well," she explains. "They have it in the gym, but it's divided in half. There's dancing with a DJ on one side and the basketball courts are open on the other."
"So let me guess," I say. "The girls are on the dance side and the boys are on the basketball side."
"That's about it," she says.
"How do they afford a DJ?" I ask.
"They, uh, don't," she says. "It's more like a kid with an iPod hooked into the sound system."
"How does he know what music to have on there?" I ask, knowing that this is getting me nowhere with my mission, but too curious to resist.
"Oh, the dean puts a list on the bulletin board next to her office," she explains. "Kids sign up the songs they want and she makes sure that none of the are too raunchy or have explicit lyrics."
"How can she be sure that the kid won't use his own playlist?" I ask.
"It's her iPod," she says. "Or the school's. Anyway the only songs they play are PG13."
"What about the high school dances?" I ask.
"Well, they actually hire a pro for those with his own computer and sound system," she says. "The deans try to stay close to him so that the kids can't request anything too, you know, sexual.
"But sometimes they get so busy on passion patrol that they let one slip through. I've never seen it, of course, but I hear that it's pretty funny watching them all rush up to the DJ station."
"Passion patrol?" I ask, trying not to laugh.
She nods.
"Teachers roam the hallways looking for kids who have slipped away. They even have teachers outside with flashlights and two way radios," she says. "To try and catch the kids making out in their cars. It's too cold to be outside in the bushes except for now."
"Interesting, if not uncomfortable," I say. "But there are a lot of nice boys around. Why didn't you ask one of them?"
"The same reason that you asked your brother," she says. "I'm too shy"
"Well, I didn't even ask him," I say honestly. "Alice did. But don't you want to go?"
"Well, I didn't think so," she admits. "But now, I'm sorry that I wasn't brave enough. Besides, I don't have a dress."
"You're about my size," I say. "I have lots of dresses. I could lend you one. And no one here would ever have seen it."
"That's really nice of you," she says. "But I still don't know who to ask. And it would feel weird being alone with someone I hardly knew."
"Yeah," I say. "I guess so. But maybe you could double with Edward and me."
"Don't the boys usually arrange that?" she asks.
"Well, this is a girls' choice dance, so why couldn't the girls arrange a double date," I say. "Besides, then I wouldn't feel so nervous."
"But you have your whole family around you," she replies.
"Hah! Like they will be anywhere near me," I say. "Alice and Rose love to dance and Emmett and Jazz will have to go along with it because it's a girls' choice."
"I don't know," she says. "You know most of the nice guys are taken. More girls have been asking today and the guys want to go, so they are saying yes."
"I know a guy who isn't going," I whisper. "Edward told me. Tim Ryan."
"But he's a junior," she says turning beet red. "And I heard that he has already said 'no' to a lot of juniors and sophomores. Why would he want to go with a freshman?"
"Oh, I don't know," I reply. "But Edward said something about how he only wants to go to dances with nice girls."
"Oh," she says. "Did Tim, um, talk to Edward about dances?"
"I think so," I say, lying with all the finesse of a Cullen. "But Edward wasn't too clear on that part. I thought that he was kind of hiding something from me."
Even without Edward's mind reading ability, I can tell that she is thinking about the conversation that Tim had with her about the Homecoming Dance. And I have a feeling that she is beginning to come on board the same way that Tim did. If she goes with Tim and doubles with us, then she will have a chance to get to know Edward better. I'm beginning to hope that this scheme doesn't backfire on us.
But there is no time to think because the teacher calls the class to order and goes over the lab. I can see that Maggie isn't paying the least bit of attention, but I figure that I can share my notes with her so that she can write up the lab report. When the bell rings, she rushes out.
"See you at lunch!" I call after her as she looks back and waves.
"How was that?" I ask Alice.
"Perfect," she says. "Edward is going to walk her to lunch from his class. He can time their approach with Tim's by reading his thoughts. But she needs to ask him before lunch. Or there could be problems."
"Okay," I say. "Then it's up to Edward."
"Don't worry," she assures me. "Edward is very good when it comes to being sneaky."
I know, I think. Unfortunately we have a test next hour, so I have too much time to think. It takes me very little time to answer the questions. But Alice comes up to me immediately after class.
"It's firming up," she says. "I am 98% sure that our plan will work."
We slow our approach to the cafeteria. We see Tim ahead of us, and a junior girl with a full backpack approaching him.
"Damn," says Alice under her breath and then rushes ahead of me bumping into the girl and causing the backpack, which was half open over her shoulder to explode.
"Stupid, little frosh!" exclaims the older girl. "Why can't you look out where you're going?"
"I'm . . . I'm sorry!" stutters Alice.
"You idiot!" yells the girl. "Help me pick these up!"
I catch a look of disgust on Tim's face and then see him meet up with Edward and Maggie. Alice is purposely fumbling with the books, so I bend down to help too. When we have retrieved the books and securely zip up the backpack, the girl tosses her dyed-blonde hair over her shoulder and stomps away without saying thank you.
"Evasion action?" I ask.
"Yup. Interference," says Alice. "The 2%. But now I see Maggie coming over our house so that I can dress her. Rosalie's not going to like it because she's going to have to lend her shoes, but it's all okay."
I breathe a sigh of relief and get my lunch of a salad and a bottle of lemonade, happy to see Maggie sitting between Edward and Tim. Once again, Portia and Libby have left the seat next to Tim empty for me, but at least Portia is sitting next to Edward. I sit beside Libby, who immediately regales me with the news that Maggie and Tim are going to the dance tomorrow night together.
Maggie is bright red from the attention, so I ask Portia if she has a date (even though I know, courtesy of Alice, that she already asked a nice First Nations boy named Kevin). Libby turns her attention to Portia and they begin to discuss hair and dresses. Tim is speaking with Edward and Maggie trying to encourage them to talk to each other.
Alice gives me a mischievous look from their table while Emmett and Jasper pretend to be laughing about something else, I'm sure. Only Rosalie isn't smiling. Alice must have told her about the shoes. I begin to play with my salad and try to focus on what Libby and Alice are saying. Peeking out from under my hair, I notice that Tim is looking at me and smiling. Looking up, Rosalie is smiling at me too . . . smugly.
