Chapter 4: A Boring Clothing Style
While I drove to school, I felt a bit too conscious about my clothing choices for today. Yesterday, I felt brave enough and decided I wanted to wear something from my colourful collection, but today, I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do.
I looked down at my flowery skirt combined with my navy top and wondered what Edward thought of them.
I hoped he would notice it and I wondered if he would. I mean, did guys ever notice girls' clothes? I wouldn't know! All my knowledge came from books and they weren't realistic at all! Maybe he would even give me a compliment if he liked it a lot. I could only hope...
Wait, no. I meant Alice. I hoped Alice liked my outfit. Given how artistic and fashionable she was and such. I hoped Alice liked it, not Edward.
I didn't care about Edward.
I bit my lip. What kind of slip up was that? And why did I start smiling when I only thought about him? That was truly and utterly pathetic. No, it was just creepy.
I arrived and got out of the car. I started walking to the entrance of our school. I was so lost in thought, I hadn't noticed Alice walking over to me until she stood directly in front of me.
I gasped in surprise.
¨Did I scare you?¨ Alice worriedly asked, her eyebrows raised.
I shook my head. I really behaved ridiculously. ¨I´m sorry, Alice. I was just daydreaming and didn't see you.¨
Her mouth curved into a smile. ¨I'm glad the sight of me didn't scare you off.¨
¨You could never.¨
I enthusiastically grinned at her, until my smile faded. Did I go too far? Was that way too much, way too soon? I mean, we only talked once, so of course, it was way too much! What was I thinking? Clearly, I wasn't.
Luckily, Alice didn't seem to mind and we walked to the entrance of the school together. Walking with her by my side, I almost felt myself grow. Look at me, walking with someone as cool as Alice. That had to mean something, right?
I noticed she glanced at my colourful skirt. ¨I love your outfit, by the way.¨
I smiled. ¨Thanks.¨
At the end of the hall, when I had to go left and Alice had to go right, she stopped.
¨Actually, I wanted to ask if you wanted to have lunch with me?¨
I finally felt as if the main character in a book was asked by the most popular girl in school to be her friend. I mean, that was basically what just happened, right? I truly was on cloud nine.
I eagerly nodded and Alice did that little enthusiastic jump again, which she also did the second time I saw her when she walked with Jasper. Seeing her excited only made me happier that I agreed to have lunch with her.
After saying our goodbyes, I had to let that sink in for a second. This was a start for me to finally come out of my shell. But was I ready for that yet?
I was comfortable being on my own and this was new territory for me. And that partially scared me. Having lunch with another student was so… different from what I normally did. Was I really ready for that yet?
I frowned. Doubt and worries took over and I felt small again. But I didn't have time to gather my thoughts, as I noticed I was quite late for my classes.
I didn't have English today, so I wouldn't see Edward before lunchtime. I wondered if he would join us or not. I could admit to myself that I would be annoyed if he didn´t.
Only because I liked his sister so much and he resembled her. Not because I wanted an excuse to speak to him again, of course not!
When the bell finally rang, indicating it was lunchtime, I felt the familiar nervous pit return to my stomach. My palms became sweaty and I just felt my heartbeat quicken. I really had to woman up, this was just getting ridiculous.
But oh, my God, why did I agree to have lunch with her? Why?
I gathered all my stuff and slowly made my way to the cafeteria, with my head held up high instead of constantly looking at the ground.
And much to my dismay, I immediately noticed I received much more attention from everyone than the past couple of days combined.
I noticed guys stared at me, were checking me out and kept an eye on me and I only felt really shy about that. I mean, I knew I wasn't ugly or anything, but this was just on a whole other level. All these hormonal teenage boys made me very uncomfortable.
It was actually rather funny; if I wore black, no one even noticed me but when my attitude only slightly changed and I wore just a skirt, that quickly grabbed their attention. I swear, hormonal boys are just the worst!
But the worst stare I received was from Lauren. I didn't know what her problem was with me, but the way she kept looking at me almost scared me. It wasn´t only annoyance I saw burning in her eyes.
It was also anger.
And that surprised me. What had I ever done to her? After the restroom incident, I made sure to avoid her and her clique as much as humanly possible. But it was clear she had some kind of beef with me.
However, the best stare was Edward´s. His eyes lit up when he saw me enter the cafeteria -or did I hope that?- and his smile was only meant for me to see -or did I hope that?- and the best part of it all was his obvious annoyance at the boys who also stared at me -again, or did I hope that?-
He waved at me and much to my surprise and shock, I saw he meant I had to sit with his friends and sister. Thinking about Alice and this lunch all morning, I hadn't realised she meant lunch with, well, all of her friends. And as Edward was her brother… Of course, he was there as well.
Oh, shit.
Alice now also turned around and eagerly greeted me.
¨Over here, Bella.¨ She happily sang to me, looking as enthusiastic as she was this morning.
Multiple people turned around to take a look at me. They were probably wondering why I was allowed to sit at their table. I wondered that too, to be honest.
They were all so funny and nice and sweet and fashionable and handsome and I was, well, me.
I started blushing and I almost wanted to turn around and leave. Instead, I got in line to get myself some Greek yoghurt from the canteen. It wasn't easy to walk in a straight line with legs that were unsteady from my nerves and toughs that were in overdrive.
In my head, I tried to find excuses to cancel this group lunch without sounding like a bitch and ruining all my chances to become Alice´s friend.
I could fake being sick and having a horrible, contagious disease that popped up every now and then. But the other students would hear it as well. Or worse, my parents would find out.
I could say I forgot to water my plants. My meat-eating plants. Who would rapidly grow and find other meats to eat if they don't get watered enough. Alice wouldn't want to cause a forest of serial killer plants, now would she? But that was way too much, no one would ever believe that. I had to think smaller.
I suddenly found the perfect solution. I could say I never met Alice and that she was speaking to my evil twin sister Stella all this time. And that Stella tried to ruin my life. Alice had to believe that one. Normal Bella would never wear a skirt to school. Normal Bella only wore black. Oh shit, that excuse was perfect. It was better than perfect, I had to write it down, as it could be a perfect book someday.
Holy shit, I could kill two birds with one stone. Get out of this lunch and become a bestselling author. Perfect.
I knew I couldn't go to their table right now. I couldn´t force myself to sit next to Edward for a full half an hour and talk with him.
I was already flushed after talking with him for a few minutes before our classes together. Let alone half an hour. I could barely form coherent sentences in his presence.
I suddenly knew for sure that I had a crush on him. A small one of course, but still, I had a crush on him. And that sucked.
¨Bella?¨ I heard a familiar voice from behind me.
I could run. I could hide. But I could never escape from Edward.
Nor did I want that.
A/N: Stella, my favourite Twilight character :)
Apologies for the rather short chapter. In the next one, they´re having lunch together and you might find out more about what´s up with Bella. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you all soon xxx