Walking with a sprain was a nuisance but manageable. She limped slowly around the school and was almost late for her English class. Jessica and Lauren dropped her off before heading to their class. She normally sat around the middle of the classroom but not wanting to make things harder for herself she chose to sit at the nearest chair to the door. The only downside she was now across to where Ben was seated by the windows. She inwardly sighed as their English teacher began his lesson.
"We will be studying the Bard," He ignored his students' blank looks. "We'll be starting with his sonnets…"
Angela opened her notebook and began taking notes. She resisted glancing towards Ben too often. He was wearing one of his anime shirts today. And he might've bought new glasses? She couldn't be sure.
"…and to spice things up, you'll be doing a group report on a sonnet," Mister Munro continued to his silent audience. "Pick a partner and you can choose your sonnet. Presentation is tomorrow."
She was about to hobble to her feet and make her way to Ben when Edward, of all people, appeared at her side and blocked her off. She stared at him in surprise before turning back to Ben who was now talking to Katie Marshall. Dismayed, she considered inserting herself and claiming Ben as her partner but that would be rude. Katie and Ben were smiling at each other and Katie took the seat beside him.
Angela sat back down and wondered what was happening to her life. Edward was now sitting beside her.
He asked, "You don't mind being my partner, do you, Angela?"
She met his eyes and she could swear his irises were more gold that day. They reminded her of a cat's, not unlike her own cat's. Although, Mister Mozart was a white fur ball that didn't like anyone but her and she didn't think Edward would appreciate the comparison.
Edward began to look amused like he wanted to laugh. She had to remind herself he couldn't read minds. He chuckled, covering his mouth with a fist. It was the second time that week she'd seen Edward Cullen laugh. It was still startling.
"What sonnet should we do?" He asked, stuttering between words as he tried to regain his composure. "Sonnet Eighteen is my personal favorite…"
Edward enjoying Shakespeare didn't surprise Angela. He seemed the type to like classic literature and they spent nearly ten minutes debating which sonnet to choose before settling on Sonnet One-Thirty. As her ankle was still healing, she had a pass from volleyball practice and they made plans to continue working on their report at her house after school. As they made their way through the halls, her hobbling along as he walked slower to accommodate her, he suggested he drive them to her house.
"We're both headed their anyway," He explained. "And I already know where you live."
She remembered the previous night when he chauffeured her to her house from the hospital and had, much to her embarrassment, carried her from his car to her doorstep. The look of surprise on her mother's face would've been funny if she didn't immediately start asking questions about Edward the moment his Volvo drove off into the darkness. Her mother was a huge Nicholas Sparks fan and was a big romantic. A boy helping her home after she inadvertently injured herself was something her mother enjoyed too much.
"Sure," She agreed. "That's fine."
They arrived at the cafeteria and Angela figured they would part ways there and go to their respective tables. Edward didn't immediately leave her and escorted her to her table where her friends were staring at them before he wordlessly made his way to his siblings.
"Him again?" Lauren stabbed into her salad. "Why is he always around?"
"Maybe he's stalking you because he likes you," Jessica gasped, delighted. "That's why he rejected me! He likes you!"
"He doesn't, Jess," She opened her bag and pulled out her lunch. "We're just doing an English report."
"That's where it starts, Ang!" Eric had his camcorder again and he was facing it so both of them were in the shot. "First English report, next marriage. It's a trap."
"Eric…"
She shook her head, unable to deal with him. Eric pointed the camera to Jessica.
"Don't you think this is a start of a great love story?"
Jessica nodded. "Oh yes. The emo and the girl next door. Classic love story."
Eric pointed the camera to Tyler who added, "Before you know it, they'll be joining the Black Parade together."
"Who's joining the Black Parade?" Mike asked as he carried his lunch tray and took a seat beside Jessica who was staring at him hopefully to notice her. "I thought you were over that phase, Eric."
Eric pointed the camera to Mike. "I am. We were referring to Edward Cullen who is crushing on our dear Angela here."
Mike gaped at her. "Edward Cullen, Angie?"
The disbelief would've pained Angela if she didn't know Mike better. There was probably no other guy that was like a brother to her. His older sister used to babysit her and Mike used to take piano lessons from her mom before he got too busy with football practice. She knew Mike was more worried than disbelieving Edward would like someone like her.
"He doesn't like me," She reached over and squeezed his arm through his Leatherman's jacket. "I'd tell you if there was anything going on."
"Good," Mike smiled at her. "You're too good for him."
"That's probably the smartest thing you've ever said," Lauren told him, as she continued chewing her salad. "Not that the bar was that high to begin with."
Mike flicked Lauren the middle finger before continuing, "I mean if he ever hurt you, Angie, the three of us are honor-bound to beat him up."
Eric piped up, "Absolutely!"
Tyler hooted, "Yes!"
"What if his brothers fight back?" Jessica looked over to the Cullens' table. "Emmett could probably throw you through a window."
They all looked over to the Cullens table and Emmett sat there like a professional wrestler on his day off, a hulking mass of a teenage boy who was even taller than Angela. Emmett started waving from their table. They stared at him before conceding defeat.
"The honor does not extend that far," Mike cleared his throat. "A good punch or a broken nose will suffice. We don't need to go to war."
Angela smiled at the three boys in gratitude. Her friends were too sweet if not misguided. "I'm okay with that."
Angela felt there were too many eyes on them as she got into Edward's car and they drove out of the school parking lot. Her friends, his siblings, and even a few of their classmates seemed intrigued with seeing them together. She tried not to mind it. Edward turned on the stereo and Claire de Lune played softly through the speakers.
It reminded her of her childhood. Her mother playing Christmas carols on Christmas morning. Her mother teaching her to play Chopin and Bach on the ancient piano her dad bought from a pawn shop in Anacortes. There was the nervous tinkling of her mother's students echoing throughout the house every Saturday. Her brothers banging on the piano when they were little and wanted attention.
Neither of them spoke during the short car ride, lost in their own thoughts until they pulled up at her house on Bogachiel Way. Her house wasn't large, just enough to accommodate her and her family, a one story structure with three bedrooms and a large shed where her dad would be making bird houses. The light green paint was faded and the roof an unassuming grey, it wasn't pretty but it was home. Wordlessly, Edward got out of the car and opened the door for her and thankfully, didn't try to carry her to the porch this time.
She wobbled up the porch stairs, holding unto the railing as she slowly made her way to the front door. Edward followed closely behind, almost hovering. She opened the door and gestured for him to follow her. The inside of the house wasn't any more impressive, white walls, wooden floors and a few appliances. The furniture was old but sturdy. And there at the corner of the living room, her mother's beloved piano.
Edward practically gravitated towards it, his fingers gliding over the keys, his eyes asking for permission. She smiled as she took a seat on the couch, opening her backpack to take out her English textbook.
"You can go ahead," She assured him. "Old Bess loves to be played."
"Old Bess?"
He took a seat on the stool and started playing. It sounded familiar but she couldn't quite place it.
"That's what we call her," Angela explained. "Bess has some years on her but she keeps on going. Good old Bess."
He smiled at her. It was soft and small but it still made her stare. Edward never fully smiled at school, half smiles or a quirk of his mouth but never a full smile. Occasionally he would be laughing with his siblings but she'd never had him smile directly at her. It was strange to only get a real smile from him after two years.
Edward nearly startled as Mister Mozart had wandered into the room and jumped up on the couch to greet Angela. A Norwegian forest cat, Mister Mozart was beautiful and white fluffiness with round golden eyes. He quickly demanded Angela's attention and she cooed at him as she stroked his wondrous fur. When Edward got up from the stool and moved closer to the couch, Mister Mozart hissed at him.
"Don't take it personally," Angela said. "He only likes me."
"I can see that," He took a seat on her dad's favorite armchair. "And his name?"
"Mister Mozart," She smiled lovingly down at her cat. "Friends and family may call him Moz. He prefers Mister for strangers."
"Ah," He nodded and reached for his back pack and took out a notebook pen. "Shall we get started?"
"Yes," She put down Mister Mozart on the couch and tried to ignore his pleading, adorable eyes. She went back to the page on her textbook and read aloud, "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun…"
Angela was never one for debate. Lauren was the talker who backed down to no one, Jessica was the genius who could back up her arguments with facts and science, and Angela was the peacemaker who was usually breaking up the fights among her friends. It's not that she never disagreed with anybody but it was easier to let things go or try to talk to them amicably then to start an argument with somebody and accidentally hurt their feelings. It was easier to keep quiet than say something she couldn't take back.
Edward Cullen did not seem to have the same reservations. He was almost patronizing, reminding her of her cousin, Allen, who was older than her and thought that made him infinitely wiser. Lauren and Jessica always said that Edward behaved like he felt he was better than all of them and while she was always quick to defend him, pointing out they didn't really know him, it made her consider if they were right. He spoke with an arrogance that needled her into talking back.
"…I don't know why Shakespeare thinks telling a woman she's ugly and smells terrible would make her feel flattered," He said. "He thinks he's better than Petrarch, somehow, because he refuses to compare a woman's beauty to the divine. What woman wouldn't want to be worshipped?"
"Not every woman wants to be idolized," She clutched her textbook in her hands as she tried to keep her voice steady. "Women don't want to be put on an impossible pedestal. She will fall off it eventually and then what?"
He stared at her for a moment before replying, "He should love her despite her flaws."
"How can he when he's painted her as this idea of perfection that no one can live up to?" She tried her best to maintain eye contact though his intense gaze made it difficult. "No woman really wants to be a Laura."
He looked impressed. "You read Petrarch?"
"I did a paper on him last year," He was also her grandmother's favorite author and her Nona used to read his poetry to her when she was little. "My point is that love can be quiet and steady. Why does it have to be a grand declaration?"
"No epic romances like Romeo and Juliet for you?"
"Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy," She countered. "I would rather have someone that makes me laugh and sees me for all that I am. That's why this sonnet is great. He loves her exactly as she is."
He backed down then, his white fingers returning to his textbook and tracing the words like he was seeing them for the first time.
"Perhaps you're right."
She didn't say anything. He looked up at her again and wondered how his eyes could be that impossible gold. It wasn't the pretty light brown of Lauren's eyes when the sun hit it or Mike's hazel eyes that reminded her of the woods. Edward Cullen's eyes suited him, an impossible color, for a boy that felt so out of place in their little town.
He moved to sit on the couch after Mister Mozart went off somewhere in the house and she realized how close he was. He was moving closer and she could smell him, sweet like the sugar cookies she'd bake with her mother. He stopped a few inches from her face, golden eyes inspecting her better and she tried not fidget under the scrutiny. She had no illusions of herself.
She looked like her mother with her brown hair and brown eyes, freckles all over her face. Pretty but plain, she was the girl next door. Edward up-close reminded her of the marble statues she saw in a museum during a class field trip in second grade. He looked carved from white marble and she wondered if he would feel as cold.
Edward pulled away just before the door opened and her parents entered the house with her brothers. Her parents were carrying bags of groceries while Isaac and Joshua ran up to her. The boys were currently obsessed with dinosaurs and were showing her the new toys they got from the store. Her father went straight to the kitchen but her mother stopped as she saw Edward sitting on her the armchair, looking very uncomfortable.
"Oh hello," She greeted. "Angela texted me that you two were working on a report. Will you be staying with us for dinner?"
"I wouldn't want to impose," He replied, glancing up at the clock on the wall. "I actually need to be getting home. My family will be looking for me."
"I see," Her mother turned to Angela and gave her a knowing look. "We would love to have you over some time. Angela doesn't bring a lot of new friends home."
Angela was blushing and she knew it. She gave her mom a look, hoping to convey she really wanted her to stop. Joshua was shoving his T-Rex toy at her face and nearly got her in the eye. Gently grabbing his hand and Isaac's, she tried to usher them to go to their room.
"Some time," Edward answered her mother, nonchalantly. "I really do need to be going. It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Weber."
He didn't even glance at Angela as he grabbed his backpack and made his way out of the house. Angela moved towards the window and watched his Volvo drive off and felt bereft. Her mother as she passed by to go to the kitchen looked too pleased with herself. Her mind was spinning and when she touched her cheeks, they still felt warm.
References:
1. 'The Black Parade' is a reference to the band My Chemical Romance.
2. 'Petrarch' was an Italian poet Francesco Petrarca. One of his most famous works was his poetry about a woman he called 'Laura'.
3. Mr. Mozart is named after Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart and Youtuber Jenna Marbles' chihuahua Mr. Marbles.
4. Chapter title is from a Penny Dreadful quote, "Sad people like poetry. Happy people like songs".
5. Angela's cousin, Allen, is a tribute to her male counterpart in Life and Death.
