Chapter 4.
EPOV. Port Angeles.
The next few weeks were interesting, mainly thanks to my new friend Isabella Swan. Our friendship came as a surprise to the entire school, as no one expected that someone would be able to get into the close social circle of this secretive family. But our friendship was even more unexpected for the Cullens themselves, as I constantly felt their judgmental looks when I spoke with Bella. The rest of the Cullens and the Hales sat at the same table as always, not eating, talking only among themselves. None of them didn't even try to speak to me, but I still felt their disapproval.
But while Bella behaved differently with me, all the oddities inherent in her family were also present in her. Sometimes I could raise any topic in a conversation, and she completely openly expressed her point of view, shared her thoughts or experiences, but there were times when Bella clearly hid something, became withdrawn, and answered with monosyllabic sentences. I was even more intrigued by the days when the entire Cullen family was absent from school. Jessica said it was Dr. Cullen's tradition to take the whole family on hikes during these rare sunny days. Bella also went on these hikes, but every time I tried to find out at least something about it, she hastily changed the subject.
Someone such strange behavior could scare away or at least alert, but I couldn't do anything about it, everything in Isabella Cullen attracted me. Her surprisingly mature outlook on life, her humor, her appearance, and even her smell were constantly in my mind and did not leave me even in my sleep. A month ago, all I could think about was the danger hanging over my family and the abrupt move to this middle of nowhere, but now it gradually faded into the background. Of course, it was impossible to forget about it completely, but I began to understand that negative emotions don't help in my situation.
Biology class was as usual, Bella and I were quietly discussing a new film that had recently been released when Mr. Banner finished his lesson. At the door, Angela and Ben were already waiting for us, as they wanted to offer me some kind of idea for the evening.
"Edward, hey, we have finally decided on our plans for tonight. We want to go to one Italian restaurant in Port Angeles. We can meet there at seven. Are you in?" It was clear that Angela was excited about it, she even slightly bounced on the spot. "Jessica, Tyler, Lauren and; I'm sorry, Edward, Mike have already agreed to this. It will be awesome if you go with us."
I almost said "yes", but a tempting idea popped up in my head. I looked quickly towards Bella, thinking to invite her with us. I really wanted her to come with us, but she usually spent all the time with her family. What was the chance that she would agree? Luckily, Angela caught me looking and instantly understood everything.
"Bella, you're welcome to join us. Everyone would love you to come."
"Yeah, especially our Edward." Of course, Ben couldn't ignore the opportunity to tease me. In response, I sent him a murderous look, and then, to my horror, I felt my cheeks redden a little.
Bella didn't say yes immediately, but she didn't say no either. I knew I had to take matters into my own hands.
"It's true, I'd love it if you came too." I looked pleadingly at her, knowing that if she came with us, I'll have a chance to ignore Mike all night, because I was sure she would take my entire attention.
Bella seemed surprised that we invited her. I guess not many people have the guts to even talk to a Cullen, let alone invite them to spend time together. A few seconds later, Bella nodded and I was ready to scream with excitement.
"Cool! Do you know where the La Bella Italia restaurant is?"
Since I rarely got out of the Forks, the name of this restaurant told me nothing, so I shook my head.
"Okay, that's not a problem, Edward. Ben and I will give you a ride. What about you, Bella? We can pick you up too, but I'm not sure I know where exactly you live."
"There's no need, I'm sure I know where it is. But thank you for the offer." Bella politely smiled at Angela, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. Something was bothering her. Maybe she didn't say no out of courtesy? "Thanks for inviting me, guys, but I have to go now, my family's probably waiting. I'll see you tonight."
Maybe that wasn't the problem, but I haven't had time to think. When I got home, the first thing I did was run into the shower. Bella always smelled so good, so she probably hated even a slight hint of sweat from those around her. I couldn't risk it. Then I put on more presentable clothes and tried to fix my unruly hair. By the time Ben and Angela were supposed to pick me up, I was all set. I wrote a note to my parents and left it on the table so they wouldn't worry about my whereabouts.
As soon as I heard the doorbell ring, I opened the door. On the doorstep, Ben was admiring my house.
"Hey. Nice house. You were lucky to find such a decent building in Forks, half the houses here look twice as old."
"Thank you. I think Mom's relative helped us with the search." I shrugged my shoulders and walked towards the car. Compared to our apartment in Chicago, I thought this house was perfectly ordinary. But I decided not to voice my thoughts.
Port Angeles was a little farther away than I imagined, but in pleasant company, time passed quickly. When we got to the right place, Angela noticed that Mike and Jessica were already there. They probably came together. At the sight of us walking towards them, Jessica immediately rushed to us with a hug. I mean, to me. The look on my face made Ben laugh, and I beat the urge to flip him the bird. Mike just frowned at me, clearly unhappy that Jessica turned her attention to me.
"Does anyone know when Bella's coming?" I never thought it would happen, but Mike just said what I was thinking.
I wish Bella would get here sooner, even though I saw her a few hours ago. After a while, Lauren and Tyler joined us. Bella still hasn't arrived. Angela even started to worry that she didn't come with us because she was still new in the town. But our thinking was interrupted by Bella's arrival.
She looked as beautiful as ever, even though she was wearing a regular leather jacket and black jeans. Her long hair was loose and somewhat curled up at the ends. And the most important thing about her was her eyes, which stood out so brightly against her pale skin. I was almost one hundred percent sure that her eyes were almost brown this morning, but now they were the color of melted gold. It was very strange, and it wasn't the first time I noticed that the color of her eyes changed during the week. Maybe she's wearing lenses? But the color of her iris wasn't artificial, I looked into her eyes embarrassingly too often not to notice.
"Hi, Edward!" When Bella saw me, she smiled and walked in my direction, ignoring Mike's hug. In a fit of smugness, I couldn't help but sneer at poor Newton. I was starting to like this evening.
*SERENITY*
As soon as we sat down and ordered food, Jessica decided to attack Bella with questions.
"Bella, you've been in Forks for almost a month, and we still don't know much about you. We have to fix this." Her sly grey eyes pierced Bella.
"Well, I don't have much to say. I've had a very boring life." Bella smiled at us all.
It was obvious that no one believed her, so everybody started asking her questions. At first, they were harmless.
"Do you like it here in Forks?" Angela's question was the simplest.
"Yeah, it's not bad. The weather reminds me of England."
"Do you miss studying in England?"
"Yeah, I quite liked it there. Especially that teachers there stricter than here, it kept me from relaxing."
"Then why did you leave your England?" Lauren's rude and tactless question shocked almost everyone here, but Bella pretended not to notice.
"I just started to miss my family, so I came to them as soon as I had the chance."
The ease with which she managed to lie delighted me. If I hadn't heard another version of her story recently, I wouldn't have felt a catch.
"Did you have a boyfriend in England? Or have you met someone here?"
The question from Mike almost made me growl. But at the same time, I couldn't help but hold my breath, waiting for her to answer. What if she met someone here in the States? I never asked her that, always thinking that after that mystery guy from England, she never dated anyone else. But at moment I realized how naive it was. How can a gorgeous girl like her be single?
"Well, I broke up with one when I left England." She had this unreadable look on her face. She looked both sad and angry.
I wondered what that could mean? Did that mean that she still missed him or even loved him? Those thoughts made me sick. On the one hand, he was the reason for her leave, but on the other hand, what did I really know? A fresh bout of jealousy gripped my whole body, but I tried not to show it.
"Oh really?! Tell us about him?" Unlike me, Jessica was delighted with this new piece of information. Her whole body posture showed that. "Was he an Englishman? Why did you break up? If it's not a secret."
It was obvious that these questions were unpleasant for Bella, but to my surprise, she decided to answer.
"He's actually Italian. A few years older than me." After this information, I almost groaned out loud. My imagination painted the image of a handsome Italian who managed to conquer my Bella. "We broke up over some personal issues."
With my peripheral vision, I saw how sad Mike was. This is probably the second time this evening when we've had the same thoughts. Luckily, the waitress chose this moment to bring our food and the questioning stopped. It seemed that everyone was enjoying the food, but then I decided to look in Bella's direction. I remembered that for all my time at school, I had never seen her eat something. This time Bella did eat her dinner, but her face full of disgust was impossible to ignore. There was something wrong with the Cullens and the food. Or maybe she just didn't like her ravioli? I wasn't sure.
I pushed her knee a little bit. Bella's leg didn't even move a millimeter. It was like I pushed a table leg, not a fragile girl. But Bella felt it anyway and looked up at me.
"Is everything all right? If you don't like it, I can share my risotto." I nodded my head towards her plate. Bella looked like a child forced to eat boiled vegetables.
"It's all right, thank you. I'm just full." That didn't sound very convincing.
I looked at her with skeptical eyes, trying to read her true emotions. My instincts knew she was lying. Unfortunately, our conversation didn't go unnoticed by others, as my thought process was interrupted by Lauren's laugh. Then she turned to Jessica and whispered something like an "anorexic". I immediately looked at Bella, even though I was sure it wasn't true. She was skinny, but she wasn't emaciated. I also remembered one day when Bella came to school wearing a T-shirt, and I thought she had some muscles, so it wasn't anorexia for sure. Maybe all Cullens had some other rare illness, or maybe it was something else entirely.
A few seconds later, I realized I wasn't the only one who heard a comment from Lauren. Everyone at the table was watching Bella and her almost full plate. I swore inwardly. It was my fault; I shouldn't have brought it up in front of everyone. It needed to be fixed immediately.
"Yeah, the food here is kind of high-fat. I'm already full too. Eating too much in the evening is not good for the figure anyway." After that, I looked meaningfully at Lauren's almost empty plate, and she turned away shamefully. I knew that I stoop to her level, but I had to stand up for Bella.
Bella sent me a grateful smile as she figured out my motive. And then dinner went on without any incident. Mike again tried to impress Bella by revealing his questionable sporting achievements, but it all sounded ridiculous. But it wasn't the worst, because then Jessica got mad at Mike and started flirting with me. After another blatant flirtation, my nervous system couldn't take it anymore. I knew I had to get out of here, or I'd explode, but I didn't want to leave Bella here.
"Bella." When she heard her name, she instantly looked at me. "I want to go look for an electronics store. Would you like to go for a walk with me?"
"I would love to."
"Ben, how long are you going to be here? I want to go look for a new computer."
"As long as you need, man. We can wait for you here."
"Or I can give you a ride. Then nobody has to wait for us." Bella's offer made me delighted because it meant I could spend an extra hour with her.
"That would be wonderful!"
With Mike's jealous eyes on us, we headed toward the exit.
"After you, Miss Cullen." I stood up straight, holding my hand out for her to go first. My gentlemanly manners made her smile.
"Why thank you, Mr. Masen. Very gentlemanly of you."
"I'm doing my best."
When we came out, I was surprised to see that it was already dark outside. I guess we stayed at the restaurant longer than I thought.
"I think I saw the emblem of a store I need near here. Can we walk there?"
"Sure. I like to walk; the car can wait."
After a few steps, I started to wonder if I should bring up the subject of food. Decided to at least apologize for what happened at dinner and then try to fish for a piece of new information.
"I'm sorry I brought up your ravioli. I shouldn't have asked that in front of everyone."
"That's okay, really. And you were right, ravioli wasn't very good." Bella smiled like I'd missed some hidden joke. I decided to ignore her smile, she was definitely hiding something.
I wanted her to trust me more, so she could tell the truth, not lies that everybody heard.
"During this month, you never ate your lunch at school. Like your brothers and sisters, you throw away a full tray. Every day." I paused, wondering how bad it sounds. I didn't want her to think I was stalking her, even though it was half true. "Today was the first time I saw you eat something. But you looked like you had a plate full of dirt. I know you're hiding something."
I took a deep breath trying to get my thoughts in order. What exactly did I want to hear from Bella? I wanted to know everything about Isabella Cullen, no matter how scary the truth is. When I decided to look at her, I saw she was all tense. When I was ready to regret bringing it up now, Bella suddenly started talking.
"Are you watching everyone so closely? To answer your question, we just don't like the food in the cafeteria. We take it so that other students don't think we are snobs."
It made me laugh. Who was she trying to fool? With their clothes, their cars, and the general attitude to other students, their food in the cafeteria didn't change anything.
"That's a bullshit answer, I'm sorry, Bella. We both know it's not the truth. I won't push you if you won't tell me the truth. But I'm asking you not to lie to me." This night wasn't supposed to be so emotional, but it was the first time I was alone with Bella without our eavesdropping classmates. "The quality of the food in the cafeteria has nothing to do with it."
Bella looked me in the eyes like she was trying to figure how sure I was of my judgments. She seemed to be wavering, torn by some internal dilemma. Her eyes locked with mine, and I guessed she was making the decision right then whether or not to simply tell me the truth. When she saw something in my face, she nodded her head.
"Okay, I'm not gonna lie to you. But I'm not gonna tell you the truth, either." It was progress, and I was happy with even that little arrangement between us. We're finally getting somewhere.
"Thank you. I just want to say that you can trust me"
Because of our conversation, I didn't see how we got to the right place. We looked at all the new models of computers and laptops and I decided I would come back later this week to this store to pick up my pre-order. When we left the store, it was dark outside, but Bella immediately moved towards where we came from.
"I take it you're not afraid of the dark?" Bella laughed at my question like it was the funniest thing on the planet. It was an unexpected reaction.
"Well, since I promised you, I wouldn't lie, I can tell you I have nothing to fear at night. It's my favorite time."
That answer only puzzled me more. Since our agreement, there have been no more answers, only more questions. My thoughts went back to the Cullens, but I decided to comment on something else.
"Port Angeles after Chicago seems like a very quiet place. Where I grew up even at night was very crowded. I'm terrified of all this silence because it seems like something's about to happen."
"Then I guess Forks' serenity keeps you awake at night." Her eyes narrowed, and then she grinned wickedly. I think Bella looked amused, but it was hard to tell in the dark.
When I wanted to answer her question, something happened. At one point, Bella was smiling and looking me in the eyes, when a few seconds later her head was turned the other way and the whole body was tensed. The sound of the gunshot was suddenly heard in the air, and at the same time Bella pushed me to the ground. I felt disoriented and I couldn't understand what just happened. Then there was another loud shot and the fear shattered my body. I tried to get up as fast as I could and protect Bella, but as soon as I looked up, I saw her. She stood in front of me in a defensive position, safe and sound. What just happened here?
"Bella, what are you doing?! Get out of here!" My screams were ignored, and she kept standing right in front of me. I tried to pull her hand, but it didn't work. " Isabella, you're gonna get shot! We have to run!"
But she didn't even turn around, and then she silently went straight to the source of the shots, where the man's silhouette was slightly visible. The sound of the gunshot sounded again, and I shuddered with terror. To my surprise and delight, Bella kept going. She wasn't hurt. I couldn't think about how she was able to stay unharmed after the shot, I just didn't care at the time. Then there was another shot, and I bet I saw a bullet ricochet away from Bella somewhere. The man with the gun was clearly not prepared for this turn of events and tried to flee. The attempt was unsuccessful, as a second later he was held by a very angry Bella. Another second, he was lying on the pavement, and Bella was holding him by the throat. The man couldn't repress a scream of terror. How did it happen? How did fragile Bella manage to take down a huge man with a gun? What parallel reality was I in?
Meanwhile, Bella leaned down to the man's ear, and her face had scary facial expressions. I studied her flawless features in the limited light of a street lamp, Bella's expression was murderously angry.
"Who are you? Why did you shoot at us?" The tone of her voice was livid.
"I wasn't aiming for you! I was ordered to maim this guy! I had to shoot him in the leg and left a message for his father!"
Oh no, that could only mean one thing.
" Who's the customer? What's the message?"
"I don't know this man, but he paid me well. He said to tell him his father better come to Chicago himself, or the whole family will suffer. And that they'll never hide from him."
The horror came back again, and I was still in shock. There was one realization in my thoughts "they found us". It meant that if I came home, we'd be running away again, or we might not live to see the end of the month.
"Have you seen this man? Is there any information about him?"
He shook his head, but Bell wasn't satisfied with that answer, so she pressed somewhere on his shoulder. The man groaned in pain. I decided to step in and save him, even though he didn't deserve it.
"Bella, don't interrogate him, I know who he's talking about."
Her black as night eyes found mine. She slowly nodded her head and turned back to the man in front of her. Her arms returned abruptly to his neck and the man remained to lie still with his eyes closed. After catching my complete horror stare, she put her hands in front of her and slowly began to rise.
"Edward, don't worry, I won't hurt you."
I laughed hysterically at her. Not because I didn't believe she was capable of hurting me, but because she just saved me from the bullets, risking herself. My laugh made Bella frown; she must have thought I was losing my nerve. It was partly true.
"Bella, if you wanted to hurt me, you could've just let this man do all the dirty work. It would be good for both of you." She nodded her head agreeing with my logic.
"Are you okay? I pushed you hard."
"Am I okay? Bella, you've been shot! She's asking if I'm okay." I lost my nerves again, and I put my hand through my hair, trying to calm down.
"How can you stand in front of me after three bullets? Who are you, Bella?"
I'm looking forward to your reviews. It's up to you to decide how soon the next chapter will be released.