EPOV

The next day I was going to insert myself back into Bella's life.

She glared at my silver Volvo.

It was strange to remember that she was probably still upset with me, and with good reason.

I wanted to laugh and kick myself, all of this was for nothing if she didn't feel the same for me. All I needed was a yes from her.

I wondered how best to approach her. She didn't make it very hard. Once she got out of her truck, she dropped her keys into a puddle, she sighed and closed her eyes, and was about to reach down into the puddle. Before she could, I made my way over to her, a little too quickly, and grabbed them for her.

I leaned against her truck while she straightened.

"How do you do that?" She demanded.

Yes, she was still angry with me.

I offered her the key. "Do what?"

She stuck out a gloved hand, it wasn't even that cold, not that I was a good judge, and I dropped her keys in her hand.

"Appear out of thin air," she clarified.

"Bella, it is not my fault you are exceptionally unobservant." This was almost a joke, there was nothing that Bella didn't see.

She glared at me, and her heart sped up.

"Why the traffic jam last night? I thought you were pretending I didn't exist."

Yes, she was still mad. It didn't help when I had blocked her car in to give Tyler his chance. I smirked.

"That was for Tyler's sake, not mine."

"You-" she gasped, too mad to finish.

"And I'm not pretending you don't exist," I finished.

"So are you trying to irritate me to death, since Tyler's van didn't do a good enough of a job."

This upset me a bit. She didn't know that I knew. But was she so comfortable with death that she could joke about it? How could she believe that?

"Bella, you are utterly absurd," I snapped.

Her face flushed, and she turned her back on me. I immediately felt remorse.

"Wait," I pleaded.

She didn't stop, so I followed her.

"I'm sorry that was rude. I'm not saying that it isn't true, but it was rude to say it anyway."

"Why won't you leave me alone?"

Was this my no?

She asked me to stay last night, but if she said no then that would be it.

Keep it light, I reminded myself.

"I wanted to ask you something, but you sidetracked me."

"Do you have dissociative identity disorder or something?"

It must seem like it, my moods were wildly erratic.

"You're doing it again." I pointed out.

She sighed. "Fine then, what do you want to ask?"

"I was wondering if a week from Saturday…" I watched the shock form on her face. "You know the day of the spring dance -,"

"Are you trying to be funny?" She cut me off.

"Will you please let me finish?"

She waited.

"I heard you were going to Seattle, I was wondering if you wanted to go to Seattle with me?"

After a little back and forth, and no real convincing, we made plans to go to Seattle.

"I'll see you in class."

And instantly, I remembered I would not be in class today.

I followed her through everyone's minds during the beginning of the day. Except Mike Newton, I couldn't stand his offensive fantasies. I watched her stumble quite a bit, mostly on nothing, sometimes on her own feet. She was clumsy.

The day dragged on while I waited for lunch, when I would see her again.

My family seemed surprised when I was already sitting at a different table. I had to remind Alice to stay out of it. When Bella walked into the lunchroom, she glanced over to the table where my siblings and I normally sat. She hadn't noticed me over here. She looked sad. I had to fight the urge to run over to her and console her. Was my apparent absence the reason she was sad?

I saw her grab just a beverage again. This wasn't the first time she had opted for no food. I would have to tell Carlisle, no appetite. Jessica was behind her, "I wonder why Edward is sitting alone today."

Jessica's thoughts were envious, she saw the correlation of my new behavior with Bella's arrival.

Bella looked up from her feet. And made eye contact, I waved her over.

"Why is he waving you over?" Jessica's thought became more envious, but also curious. My guess was that she wanted the latest gossip.

"Maybe he needs help with the Biology homework." Bella was a poor liar. I don't even think she believed that, "I'd better go see what he wants."

This was another almost yes.

She stumbled twice on the way to my table. There was nothing but perfect linoleum. Seriously, how hadn't I noticed this before?

Keep it light, I reminded myself.

When she finally made it to my table, "Won't you sit with me today?'

She pulled the chair across from me and sat.

After a few moments of silence, she spoke, "Well this is different."

"I've decided as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly."

Why did I say that? At least it was honest. She looked at me like she was waiting for me to finish.

"You know I don't know what you mean," she said when I didn't continue.

That was a relief. "I know."

"Your friends are mad at me for stealing you."

"They'll survive." This made me smile. She didn't seem too concerned for them.

"I may not give you back." I didn't even know if I was teasing her or warning her.

She had this pensive look on her face. The 'v' between her eyebrows forming again. She swallowed loudly.

"You look worried." I laughed at her expression.

"You may not have a choice," she said with the same pensive look, "to give me back, I mean."

This concerned me. How much time did I have before she would be gone? She shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts.

"So what brought all this on?" She questioned. She looked slightly concerned.

"I told you, I got tired of staying away from you. I'm giving up trying to be good," I reminded her. This was good, let her see my selfishness, let her run away, but a much bigger part of me wanted her to stay.

"So, in plain English, are we friends?"

"Friends…" I wanted to be more, friends wasn't good enough, but it was a start.

"Or not." she mumbled, looking slightly embarrassed. The blush forming on her cheeks.

"We can try, I suppose, but I may not be a very good friend. If you were smart you would stay away."

"I think you've made your opinion on my intellect clear." I must have offended her. I smiled in apology.

"What are you thinking?" I said after a few moments of silence.

"I'm trying to figure out what you are."

I kept my smile, but panic twisted inside of me.

Keep it light, I reminded myself.

"Are you having any luck with that?" I asked as nonchalantly as I could.

"Not too much," she admitted.

I chuckled in relief. "What are your theories?"

It couldn't be worse than the truth. Her face turned an even brighter shade of red, and she said nothing. I could try my persuasive tone, it worked on normal humans.

"Won't you tell me?" I smiled encouragingly.

She shook her head. "Too embarrassing." She looked down, and her blood flowed more swiftly.

"That's really frustrating, you know."

"No, I can't imagine why that would be frustrating at all - just because someone refuses to tell you what they're thinking, even when they're making cryptic little remarks specifically designed to keep you up at night wondering what they could possibly mean... now why would that be frustrating?"

I frowned at her.

She continued her rant until she felt like she had made her point.

I smirked at her.

"You've got a bit of a temper, don't you?"

"I don't like double standards."

I stared at Bella. I was hearing the shouting thoughts of Mike Newton, they became so irate and vulgar that it distracted me.

"What?" She demanded.

"Your boyfriend seems to think I'm being unpleasant to you. He's debating whether or not he should break up our fight." I would love it if he would try. The thought made me laugh.

"I don't know who you are talking about, and I'm sure you're wrong anyway. I have some acquaintances, and I guess a newly acquired friend." The last part sounded a bit sarcastic.

"I told you I read people very well. He doesn't think of you as an acquaintance."

"Except for me of course."

"Yes, except for you." Did she have to be the exception? "I wonder why that is?"

I stared into her eyes, trying again.

We continued the conversation the rest of lunch, I even got a few, albeit unoriginal, theories out of her. She wanted a warning next time I decided to ignore her, this made me smile a bit, my absence was a bad thing to her. She also promised that she wouldn't stop trying to figure out my secrets.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." I tried to say playfully. I probably wouldn't tell her either way.

"Who said I have any secrets?" She said slightly defensive, slightly playful.

"Just a hunch." Then lunch was over.

"We're going to be late." She said changing the subject.

"I'm not going to class today."

"Why?"

Because I don't want to kill you. "I think it's healthy to ditch every now and then."

"Well I'm going." She always did the right thing. She was my opposite.

"I'll see you later, then," I said trying to sound casual.