DISCLAIMER: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight not me. I just love playing around with the characters we all know and love. :-)
Authors Notes:
***Back to Bella this chapter. Isn't Edward just plain awesome how he constantly leaves Bella flustered and confused? It's the type of arrogance all women love but absolutely hate that we do. LOL. *Guilty ;-)*
***This is my favorite BPOV chapter so far as you get a real feel for her emotionally.
***This chapter is much longer than last so hopefully that holds everyone over a bit better.
***Sorry for slower updates. It's officially the holiday season and since I'm the GM manager that means I'm working lots of hours. This plus being pregnant and having two other kids results in a very sleepy mommy. LOL. I'll update as I can but no promises of when. I still want my chapters as perfect as possible and since I don't use a BETA reader I have to do a lot of re-reading and editing myself.
***ENJOY and don't forget to comment.
CHAPTER #5: Aged in Hope
BPOV
"Yes Dad." I smiled as my dad confirmed for the hundredth time that I was in a perfectly safe part of the 'big bad' city. He hated me working in Seattle as he was born and bred small town. I grabbed juice from the fridge and as I closed it my eyes caught on Lizzie's picture. I had almost hung it next to her forests on my classroom wall but I wanted to enjoy it at home. I loved it and it had made my day that she chose to give it to me. The fact that she had given it to me just to 'make me smile' was so incredible thoughtful and showed how wonderful of a little girl she was. I knew she'd been drawing that picture for Edward and had been working on it for awhile but when she saw me upset she wanted to help. It was such a selfless gesture and I nearly cried when she gave it to me.
"Charlie, leave the poor girl alone." My mom chimed in from the other phone in their house and I laughed as he grumbled to himself. His silence was part of his personality but he always managed to speak volumes with it.
"So how did the first week of school go?" I happily told my parents all about my students, co-workers, and about how eager I was to start my art class. Both my parents were beyond supportive of me and wanted to know everything about my life, and Angela's too. As much as she was practically a sister to me, she was just as much a daughter to them.
"Any cute guys?" My cheeks flushed and I tried in vain not to think of Edward. The day after the horrible first day, he picked up Lizzie and flirted with me easily and shamelessly, just like he had at our other two meetings. He never asked me out or did anything more than charm me in his usual way though. I honestly didn't know if he really liked me or just enjoyed making me trip over myself. The latter seemed more possible but I secretly hoped it was the first. Pushing aside his flirtatious nature, he was an incredible man in so many ways, particularly in loyalty and intelligence. Then add in his confidence and charm, and I was completely wrapped up in him.
This was where I was left a bit puzzled. Did he like me? If he was interested in me, wouldn't he have asked me out by now? Maybe it was my age. Maybe it was the fact that I was his daughter's teacher. Maybe he just wasn't interested, at least romantically. I shook my head of the enigma that is Edward Cullen. I had puzzled over all of this enough on Friday.
"Subtle mom." I hated how young and moody my voice sounded but I couldn't seem to help it. Thinking of guys romantically naturally brought forth thoughts of Edward, which just left me confused.
"What?" I rolled my eyes at her soft tone.
"Have you been talking to Angela?" Why did I tell Angela anything? She always shared everything with Mom.
"I talk to Angela about a lot of things. What specifically are you referring to?" I don't know why she thought that innocent tone was going to work, because it wasn't. She was as good of a liar as I was... which was a bad one.
"Bella should be focused on her job right now." I would almost be grateful for my father's intervention except that I didn't want to focus solely on my career. My whole life all I've ever focused on was becoming a teacher. Now I am one and I want more, I just didn't know exactly what that was or how to get it, but I do know I need something besides my career.
"Bella has only ever thought about her JOB..." My mother accented the word in annoyance. I knew she wasn't frustrated over my career itself because she loved what I did, but more at the situation. She was always worried that I sacrificed to much of my social life for my academic one. Sadly I was beginning to agree with her. "...she needs more than that."
"Not boys." My father spoke gruffly and my mother huffed. I almost blurted out that Edward was no 'BOY' but thank goodness I didn't. My mother would want to know everything about him from hair and eye color, his smile, height, and a million other things so she could start envisioning our children together. Just the thought of her potential questions had me bright red. Thank goodness this was only a phone call. MY father would want to know the more practical as well as ridiculous things about any man in my life like profession, income, what car he drives, drivers license number, social security number,... age. I took a deep breath as I thought of the last one. It always seemed to come back to age. I didn't even know his age and he didn't know mine, but it still felt like a weight on us.
"Ignore your father Bella. He likes to pretend you're still a 12 year old girl, not the beautiful, successful young woman you are." I blushed at my mom's compliment.
"Thanks mom,"
"I only speak the truth baby." I rolled my eyes lovingly at the irony of her calling me 'baby' after she'd just finished explaining how grown up I was. "So..." I frowned at the phone in confusion as my mother's tone changed. "...are there any guys that you've met."
"I've met lots of guys. My principal is really nice." I winced when my mother practically squealed over the line. Oops, I probably shouldn't have said that.
"What's his name? What's he look like? What color are his eyes? Is he single? Ohhh, how tall is he? You totally need someone tall Bella."
"She's 5'6"!" I shook my head at my father, though he had a point. I was fairly short by comparison to most men, including my principal, and definitely Edward, who was even taller.
"Bella?" My mother was choosing to ignore my father entirely.
"I didn't say I was interested in my principal mom." She remained silent so I choose to answer her questions, though I did through a heavy sigh. "His name is Jasper Whitlock. He's got shoulder length blonde hair and hazel eyes. He's pretty tall, maybe 6'2"?"
"Is he cute?" I shrugged at that question. I suppose he was good looking and he had a very friendly smile but when I thought about attractive men, my thoughts automatically went to Edward. He had this dark brooding demeanor, piercing emerald eyes, and the most devastatingly beautiful and disabling smile I'd ever seen in my life. I swear he must be able to get anything he wanted with a smile like his. Then there was his hair. I had never seen a shade like it before. It was both brown and red, but in a shade that looked like a buttery bronze or copper. Was it possible for a man as dark and handsome as him to also be beautiful? I blushed at how ridiculous I sounded in my own head.
"Well?"
"What?" What was wrong with me? Whenever my thoughts went to Edward I couldn't focus on much else.
"Is he cute?... Single?"
"I don't know." I really didn't know. Jasper never mentioned a wife of girlfriend but honestly I hadn't known him very long so how would I know?
"If he's cute or single?" I huffed at my mother's incessant questioning. I didn't know if I felt worse for my dad, having to listen to the girl talk, or me for having to appease my mothers curiosity.
"Both. I don't think he's really my type anyway." At least that was true. He was nice and I liked talking to him but he definitely didn't make my heart race, like a certain other man was able to do with just a look.
"What is your type?" Green eyes, bronze hair, strong jawline, confident demeanor, devoted father, fiercely protective, sinfully good-looking, sexy smile, controlling, powerful and apparently older... much older. I never knew I was into the whole 'older man' thing but that certainly explained why I never took much of an interest in guys my own age.
"I dunno." I practically whispered the words. I was all to aware that my father was still on the line, as even his silence was screaming at me. If he knew how much older my crush was then me he would have a heart attack.
"How old is this principal?" I rolled my eyes at my fathers cold tone.
"I don't know and I'm not even interested in him." I was starting to get irritated. "Even if I was, I would never date my boss." That just didn't sound smart.
"You sound awfully defensive there Bells."
I groaned loudly for them to hear. I hated my dad's 'cop voice' "I'm hanging up now. I have a long day ahead of me. It's the first day of my class and I want everything perfect." Not to mention I would be seeing Edward today and I wanted to look my best. I knew I shouldn't try with him, as there was no way I had a chance, but I couldn't help it. I loved the way he smiled at me, and despite his tendency to make me blush I loved talking to him.
I chose skinny denim jeans and a simple blue top today. I thought about wearing another dress but I didn't want to look so innocent. For once I wanted to look a little more adult. I shook my head at myself. I was hopeless.
…...
"Welcome everyone." I was so excited to teach my first art class today that I actually felt myself bouncing where I stood. My classroom was to small for all the tables and students so the class was in a larger room near the gymnasium. It was perfect because each student had lots of space. Lizzie had followed me eagerly to the room, chatting non stop about how she wanted to make something handsome for her handsome dad. I laughed at her enthusiasm. She was the biggest Daddy's girl I'd ever met in my life. Though with a father as devoted as Edward who could blame her?
We were going to be working on color mixing on our first day so all the kids had small samples of the primary 3 colors. I went over how using these colors gave them the ability to create other colors they wanted. After I showed some examples, I came off as quite cool to my students. I beamed as they each told me so. I liked being cool.
It was fun... albeit messy... going around to each student and helping them create the perfect shade of whatever they wanted. Henry wanted the same red as an apple so I helped him mix till he got the perfect dark shade of 'red delicious'. Once I got to Lizzie she seemed so into looking at all her colors that she barely noticed I was there. I asked her what she wanted to create and she said she wanted her daddy's eye color. God did she ever not think of him? I told her that since they had the same color I could help. No need to elaborate that I probably had her dads eye color as memorized as she did. I showed her how to combine blue and yellow for green and we played around with the mix until we got pretty close to the emerald color they shared. After that she started doodling eyes and I moved onto the next student. Some of the combos were really hard to come up with and I googled a lot of things that I didn't even know what they were talking about, like the perfect shade of bluish/purple to match Rarity's hair from my little pony. I was actually surprised by how creative all the choices were. Each person wanted something so different, and I loved helping everyone create their favorite color.
Everyone created small little masterpiece with their paint and I loved them all. It was obvious Henry REALLY loved apples as he painted a bunch of them in different shades of red, his favorite color, complete with little stems and leaves. It was actually quite beautiful when he was done. As the class was coming to a close and everyone started cleaning up their desks, Henry, who sat close to Lizzie gave me his painting, saying the red reminded him of my lips. I blushed so dark from his statement that Lizzie actually asked me if I was okay. God Henry was shameless for a 5 year old.
All the parents were there on time to pick up the kids and I loved watching all of them show their pictures to their parents. When henry's father asked where his painting was, Henry happily explained that he gave his to his girlfriend while pointing to me, still fighting off the blush he caused. His dad laughed and told his son 'good work' before taking him away. Henry waved at me from behind his dad and even winked... yes winked. Seriously Henry was to much.
Eventually it was just Lizzie left but technically the class still had a couple more minutes, the other parents were just probably desperate to get home. Lizzie happily started helping me clean and chatted all about painting her 'daddy's eyes'. I found it interesting that she never seemed to make something for her mom, at least not that she mentioned to me. She drew her on occasion but never bragged about how much she wanted to show it to her, like she did for Edward.
"Knock Knock." My breath caught as I heard Edward's silky voice filter through the room. Before I could even turn around Lizzie was running for him and I turned just in time to see him catch her before picking her up and smiling at her happy face. Every-time I'd seen Edward up till now, he was wearing his three piece suit that looked immaculate. This time however he wasn't wearing the jacket or tie and he had the sleeves of his long sleeved black shirt rolled up his arms. Did his arms always look so good? Did he have a single flaw?
He greeted her with a wide smile and looked at her picture, laughing when she said she wanted to draw his eyes perfectly. I was almost glad he wasn't looking at me as I was still holding the apple painting, silently wondering which shade of red matched my blush the best at the moment. Knowing my luck it was the darkest one.
"Hello, Bella." I glanced up and noticed Edward had stepped quite close to me and was amused by something he saw.
"Hello Edward." I smiled gently and placed the painting down. That was a mistake as Lizzie immediately picked it up and showed Edward. He held it up and glanced at me before looking at Lizzie. He seemed confused and I gathered that was from the slightly mortified expression on my face.
"Did you paint this one too, baby?"
"No. Ms. Swan's boyfriend, Henry, did." Oh God. Kill...me...now. Edward's eyes literally zoomed in on mine like a lazer beam and I really wished a hole could swallow me up right now. Okay NOW my coloring was the darkest red apple, I didn't need a mirror, I could feel it.
"He's not my boyfriend." I sounded 2 inches tall as I disagreed with her. I couldn't help that Henry had a crush on me.
"He told me you were. He said he wants to marry you." Lizzie sounded confused and I wanted to run away so badly.
"Henry is just being sweet, Lizzie." I still sounded tiny. It's not exactly confidence that one exudes when their voice sounds smaller then their 5 year old student.
"Who's Henry?" I couldn't bring myself to look at Edward as he asked the question. Seriously where was a hole when you needed one?
"A boy in my class. He REALLY likes Ms. Swan." I tried to grab the painting from Edward quickly but he pulled it away from my grasp easily. I couldn't bring myself to look up as he did since I heard him chuckle at my weak effort to grab the picture. He held it up high, making it impossible for my short reach. What was this... elementary school?... Okay TECHNICALLY it was but I was a teacher not the girl with pigtails being picked on in the playground.
"He does huh?" I glanced up at Edward now and he looked like he was REALLY enjoying himself as he easily held the painting out of my short reach. "It looks like you have an admirer Ms. Swan." He gave the picture an appraising look before looking first at me, then it, then me. After a few moments of this it was like I could actually see a light bulb go off in his mind before he turned to Lizzie. Oh God he was going to ask her why the picture was of apples, and she was going to tell him. Would it be to conspicuous to run out of here? The class was over so maybe I could get away in time.
"Why did he paint apples, Lizzie?"
"He says the red matches Ms. Swan's lips." Okay that's it... I give up... I'm not getting out of this with any dignity intact. I quickly grabbed the cups of mixed paint and brought them to the sink to soak. I was so red right now I wondered if it could make me pass out. I heard Edward laugh but I tried to ignore him.
"It matches her blush even better." Why did he have to be charming while embarrassing me? Why did he enjoy torturing me so much?
"I think her blush is pretty." I smiled to myself at Lizzie's compliment and muttered a thank-you as I washed. She gave a happy "You're welcome" and continued gathering supplies for me.
"I agree Lizzie." I heard him walk closer to me but refused to look away from the sink. "It's very pretty." It was bad enough that he said that, but he had to practically purr it as he came up behind me and spoke softly near me. I gave another mumbled thank-you as I finished with the cups. He chuckled but seemed to take pity on me as he talked with Lizzie more about the class. I was grateful for the chance to breathe. It was hard enough to think straight when I simply thought about him let alone when he was in the room with me. As I finished cleaning up Lizzie sat quietly doodling, like always, and Edward came over to me, beautifully perfect smirk firmly in place.
"I noticed you aren't wearing a dress today." I just looked at him at a loss of what to say for a moment. His eyes discreetly looked me over and I blushed at his attention.
"I can't allow myself to be to predictable." I gave him a small curtsy and his smile grew.
"Predictable? That's an interesting word choice. 'Predictable' for whom?" Oh God, he was implying that I dressed up for him. Technically I dressed DOWN for him today, so did that count? I shrugged and tried to look away but his eyes pinned me where I was. "Any particular admirers? I thought you said you had no... prospects?" He was enjoying this far to much.
"No." He laughed and I flushed... even more. "Henry is only 5."
"Well the heart wants what the heart wants Bella." He leaned in towards me as he said my name and I couldn't help but stare at him like a complete idiot.
"Daddy I'm hungry." He looked down at her and I was grateful that she broke whatever spell was going on between her dad and me.
"Okay baby, let's get going." His eyes stayed on me for a moment, smile still in place. Did he ever lose his cool, for even a moment?
"Ms. Swan can you come to dinner with us?" Lizzie was so sweet as she asked, but I couldn't hide the shock I felt at the invitation. I certainly hadn't expected that.
I looked to her, giving me a chance to pull away from her father's very powerful gaze. I leaned down and rubbed her shoulders kindly. "I don't want to intrude on your time with your dad." That sounded convincing right?
"It's no intrusion at all Bella." Edward smirked as my shocked eyes went to him. Did he have her ask me that or was he just that calm about everything? "We'd be happy to have you join us." Great, two against one.
"Umm... okay. Thanks for the invitation Lizzie... I'd be happy to come." Lizzie was thrilled and I was horribly torn. I really liked Lizzie and I certainly liked Edward too but I didn't know what to make of this. Was it a date? Do you take your kids with you on dates? Is it a date if it's just decided to go somewhere and it's not pre-planned? Since it was still a little early I told them I would meet them at the restaurant so I could change first. There was paint on my outfit so I was a bit self conscious. That plus getting away from those eyes of his and that smile would give me a chance to breathe.
…...
I changed into the first simple dress I found in my closet as it saved me debating what shirt matched what pants/shorts/skirt. It was a dark blue color and had a simple round neckline and Bell sleeves. It was comfy and one of my favorites because of how warm it was. I brushed out my wavy hair and decided to just leave it down.
I got to the restaurant, a simple diner, in good time and both of them were already seated. I smiled at Lizzie when she stood up to hug me. I hugged her back before she ran back to her side of the booth. A booth, not a table. I would have sat with Lizzie but she had all the space taken up with her drawings. She had two restaurant kids menus and her drawing from class. She'd been drawing a large mansion with a bunch of people in front of it. There was no room next to her which only left sitting with Edward. I glanced at him and he smirked and scooted over to make room for me.
I bit my lip to the point of actually hurting as I sat as close to the edge as I could. Lizzie immediately started asking my opinion of her drawing and I happily distracted myself with her. Sadly she was a very methodical artist so her attention went to it alone pretty quickly, leaving just me and Edward. The waitress took our drink orders just before things got awkward but as soon as she left the feeling began to take root.
I couldn't shake the disbelief I had for where I was. I was at a restaurant with Edward Cullen. This was the man that hadn't been far from my thoughts since I met him a couple weeks ago. He was the man that was able to turn me red with just a glance of his penetrating green eyes and render me mute with a single statement.
"You know, I don't bite." I glanced over at Edward who had leaned toward me with a kind smile. I smiled back genuinely, feeling silly for being so awkward. I nodded gently before scooting more towards the middle of the bench, a friendlier distance. Why was I acting so weird around him? There was no reason we couldn't be friends. "Unless..." I watched him as he spoke warmly, he suddenly felt a lot closer. He had leaned in as he began speaking softly to me. "...of course, you want me to." He winked and I averted my focus to my menu, even though I'd already decided what I wanted. NOW I remembered why I acted the way I did around him. He was always flirting with me and leaving me curious about what his intentions were. Did he like me? Was he just a flirtatious guy? Did he talk like this with all women or just the hopelessly awkward ones?
Luckily I didn't need to respond as the waitress was efficiently fast. Edward got a BBQ burger, Lizzie a cheeseburger, and I got a bacon burger. They always reminded me of my hometown. The diner there had the best bacon burgers ever but this would do.
Surprisingly enough Edward was able to die down the flirting and we actually had a great time in which I didn't spend the whole night beet red and unintelligible. In addition to his protectiveness, his kind of hot temper, sexy appearance, and everything else about him, I learned he was also very funny. He told me about his hilarious brother and his slightly erratic mother. I had to chime in that my mother and his would get along great. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I wanted to take them back. What did that mean? Our parents meeting...? That had caused him to smile at me and make a little remark about how we would have to make that happen someday. This of course made me blush but he graciously didn't mention it.
We spoke about everything and Lizzie chimed in her own stories throughout the whole evening easily. Everything was amazing and I didn't think I'd ever had such an incredible night out before. I couldn't remember a time I'd had so much fun with anyone let alone two people. I laughed easily, I even made them laugh, especially Edward. He had a great laugh that displayed the smooth warmth of his voice.
Aside from all the laughs I got to really know Edward. I learned that he was CLO at his firm, the largest in the state of Seattle, even I knew the name, Roman & Volturi. I was almost to embarrassed to ask what a CLO was, but he took it in good humor when I had worked up the courage to ask. He even laughed as he explained that he got that a lot. Apparently it was a pretty big thing as he managed pretty much every lawyer there. I asked about what his specific specialty was in law and he apparently had a couple, though he dabbled in every branch now due to what he does. I was in awe of his intelligence level as he talked about his job. Add THAT to the things I ALREADY found absolutely amazing about him. As he spoke I couldn't fight stupidly embarrassing thoughts from coming to my head. How on earth was he divorced? Who would let this man go? H e was fun, charming, smart, a wonderful father (that alone made him beyond perfect), perfect looking,... the list was infinite. What more could a girl want?
Somehow Edward and I slowly but steadily shifted closer to one-another in the booth but amazingly I didn't feel uncomfortable when I finally realized it. His larger then life appeal seemed to lessen as I got to know him on a personal level throughout the night. He was more then this amazing IDEA of a man. I was getting to know HIM, Edward, as a person now. Of course he was even more amazing then I had imagined but he was still human. He spoke about little issues in his past, school, family, work, etc... He didn't touch on his divorce, though that was probably due to Lizzie's presence and not because he was being secretive. He gave off a very honest persona otherwise though and I loved learning everything about him. I knew it was probably to much information, as I fantasized about him far to much as it was, now he was even more perfect.
I offered up just as much information about myself as he did. Mostly I talked about Angela and my parents. I told him about Angela being a nurse and how we had both been the biggest nerds in school. He laughed at that saying he wasn't surprised, and of course he chimed in that he'd always had a thing for the quiet smart girls. I blushed and he laughed harder while somehow shifting even closer to me.
He talked about high school as well. He didn't play football but his brother did. He was varsity track-n-field as well as basketball. That wasn't surprising with how tall and lean he is. It didn't shock me in the least or probably anyone for that matter when he told me that he had been prom king. Need I say more? With looks, personality, and apparently physical prowess like his... of course he was.
"I didn't even go to Prom." My eyes widened as I volunteered that. Why did I suddenly feel like the worlds biggest loser?
"Why not?" He actually looked surprised. Did I really look like the popular dancing type of girl? I was pretty sure basic coordination was a necessity for dancing, and I didn't have it. I certainly wasn't going to give him that reason though.
"Lots of reasons I guess." He gave me a pointed look, obviously wanting the several reasons.
"Well for one, no one asked." At least when I was still in high school... TO ask.
"It sounds like you went to high school with some very stupid and very blind guys." He winked and I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop my easy smile. Regardless of his intentions with me, he always made me feel special.
"Also I wasn't actually in high school for senior prom." He looked confused and I turned red. "I graduated high school a little early... two years." His eyes widened slightly at that piece of information. It's funny how graduating early never really felt like a great achievement when I spoke about it in any sort of social setting. It just made me feel like a misfit, someone who didn't belong.
He smiled encouragingly as I shifted uncomfortably. "Of course you did." I smiled and he let the topic drop, obviously sensing my discomfort. He eventually asked how I decided on becoming a teacher and my answer was actually a lot like how he decided to become a lawyer. I took an early love to the idea and never changed my mind. I had always wanted to be a teacher, simple as that. I loved to learn, I loved kids, and I loved to teach.
After all the talk of professions and high school the night took an awkward turn. He asked how long I'd been teaching and I shyly admitted it was my first year, the prior year being my student teaching. As soon as the words were out of my mouth I knew something was about to shift between us. He seemed to stare at me with such gravity and intensity that I felt like I couldn't look away. Behind the deep gaze was the start of comprehension, understanding of something that I so wished he didn't. I was pretty sure I knew exactly what he was going to ask next as I saw his eyes form a questioning look.
"How old are you Bella, if you don't mind me asking?" Yep, that's what I thought he was going to ask. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, hoping he didn't notice. I had never hated my age more then I did right now in this exact moment. Somewhere in the night he had mentioned his graduating year and I was able to mentally figure out that he was either 34 or 35 as a result, since I didn't know his birth month. That meant I was about 15 years younger then him. 15 years was a BIG difference, I wasn't blind to that and I knew he wouldn't be either.
I didn't want to answer this question. I really liked Edward, REALLY liked him. I've never actually had any real feelings for a guy before, but then Edward comes along and with just one of those crooked smiles I can't stop thinking of him. I know once I tell him he is going to freak out, at least internally. Who wouldn't? It was a big difference. I couldn't stop chanting that in my head... 'BIG difference', 'BIG difference'...
Despite that ongoing mantra in my head, I still couldn't come up with the ability to actually care about the age gap myself. I should care... shouldn't I? When I'm 25, he'll be 40. When I'm 35, his age, he'll be 50. I knew the math, but I still couldn't bring myself to care.
The problem was that I knew he would care. I had learned a lot about Edward tonight. He was fierce, smart, funny, amazing, but he was also guarded. Not in a bad way, but a pragmatic one. He had the air of an experienced person, someone who had seen a lot. With age came wisdom but also doubt and cynicism. My age alone proved that I wasn't the same way. I was inexperienced where he'd seen it all. I was naive, he was wise. I was optimistic, he was a realist.
"I need to go potty." I smiled at Lizzie and offered silently to Edward to take her. He nodded as I stood up, taking her hand as I did. We shifted towards the bathroom but before leaving the table I looked at him and spoke the words I really didn't want to say.
"I'll be 21 next month." I didn't wait to see his reaction, instead I led Lizzie to the ladies room and helped her to a stall. I stood outside of it and waited patiently for her to finish. I laid my head against the wall of the bathroom and breathed in and out. Why did I get the feeling that tonight would be the last time I ever saw his flirtatious smile?
END NOTES:
-PLEASE REVIEW
-This was a pretty long chapter as I wanted to tell all of this from BPOV. Next chapter is Edward's. How will he handle the news of Bella's age?
-I REALLY loved writing Bella in this chapter. She may be young and innocent but she has a wisdom and understanding that few people in their 60's probably have. She has a lot more going for her then she realizes, and that's part of what makes her so amazing.
-Yes you can be a teacher at 20-21 if you did what she did. It's unlikely that she would have gotten a job at a private school, because of her lack of experience but hey it's my story so I'll tell it how I want. Lol.
-I had to change Bella's birthday a bit from canon to work for the story so her birthday isn't in September but a bit later. Edward is still June (A Gemini) though.
