3
Welcome To Day Two of Hell
I opened my locker and stared blankly into it, straining my ears to hear what people were saying about me. "I heard she threw her chair across the room!" someone whispered. "I heard she found out she was pregnant!" I hid my face behind my hair and laughed at that one. How would I find out I'm pregnant in chemistry class? What a joke. "I heard she freaked out because Edward rejected her." Now I had to bite my cheek so I didn't draw attention to myself. My sides hurt from trying to hold in my laughter. The people in this school were so stupid.
I shut my locker and walked towards my first period class, continuing to listen to people's whispering. "Hey, Bella," I heard from behind me a few minutes later. "Can I walk you home after school? There's something I need to talk to you about." I turned around and looked at Edward, sticking my lip out into a pout.
"No, I don't think I can handle that, Edward! The sting of your rejection is still too much!" I had to grit my teeth to hold in my giggles at his confused expression. He opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off, acting like a dramatic teenage girl. "You don't have to say anything. I understand. Just know that I tried." I pretended to choke up and patted him on the cheek (I was wearing my gloves) before I turned and walked away. As soon as my back was to Edward, I started snickering to myself, trying to think of ways to use these rumors to make him leave me alone.
I sat down at my desk in chemistry and put my head down on the table. I hadn't been able to sleep much last night. My dreams were poisoned with thoughts of my death vision and the idea of being sent away. I wasn't sure if she meant to a mental hospital or military school or a boarding school or what, but I didn't want to go to any of them. I'd been racking my brain all night trying to think of ways to prevent it.
"Are you ever going to tell me what that was about? Or are you going to mess with me again?" Edward asked, sitting across from me. I sighed and lifted my head to look at him.
"I wasn't messing with you yesterday. I really can't tell you." He rolled his eyes and looked at me meaningfully. "Yeah, whatever. But as for the whole 'sting of rejection' thing earlier, people are saying that the reason I freaked out yesterday is because I threw myself at you and you rejected me. I don't know about you, but I think it's the funniest thing I've ever heard." He raised his eyebrows at me as I laughed.
"And why are people saying that?" he asked and I shrugged. Then I got a sudden inspiration, and had to hold back my smile. If Edward thought hanging with me would make him a social outcast, wouldn't that make him want to leave me alone? It was worth a try. Maybe he was one of those people that thought being popular in high school would guarantee you a life of happiness and luxury for the rest of their lives. Again, people were so stupid it was insane.
"Well, I'm a freak. No one likes me. I have no friends whatsoever," I told him. I realized I was overdoing it just a little but I didn't care. "So, people spread rumors about me all the time."
"You're wrong," he said, smiling at me with his hypnotic green eyes. I raised one of my eyebrows at him. "You do have a friend . . . me." He winked at me and I opened my mouth to make him to understand that I didn't want to be his friend. But the bell rang and Mr. Banner called the class to attention.
"All right, class. Today, you'll be finishing off your labs. Make sure you explain everything in your conclusion, including all the steps you took to get your results." Since Edward and I had more work to do than everyone else, we got started, but were soon interrupted when Mr. Banner stepped up to our table. The whole class got silent, listening to what he was about to say. "Bella, Edward, I don't usually do this, but if yesterday is any indication, you might not get much work done in this class. So, Edward, do you want to switch partners?" he asked, looking towards him. He met my eyes and smiled.
"No, I like the one I have now." I sneered at him as Banner turned to me.
"What about you, Bella?" I scanned the people in the room with my eyes. Tanya was staring hungrily at Edward, and everyone else was looking at me. After a quick evaluation, I realized that I disliked everyone else in the room just a little more than I disliked Edward. Maybe if I stuck with him as my partner, we'd be able to get work done without as much petty drama. I sighed and met Mr. Banner's eyes.
"No, I'm fine, thanks," I told him. I saw Edward's smile widen out of the corner of my eye. I sighed again as I realized that not asking for another partner was probably a backslide from making him not want to be my friend.
"Okay, then. But if you slack off or don't finish your work, I will separate you guys. Am I understood?" We both nodded and he spun on his heel and walked away. I turned back to the table and looked at my lab sheet without meeting Edward's eyes.
"So, you never answered my question. Can I walk you home after school today?" I measured out the chemicals we'd be working with while I pretended to consider it.
"No," I said after a few minutes.
"Why not?" he asked, and I could hear a smile in his voice. I answered a few questions on the lab report before I looked up at him. He was staring at me, his eyes gleaming in amusement. His eyes were actually very pretty. It was kind of annoying.
"Look, Edward, I know you want to know what happened yesterday. I completely understand that. But I can't explain it. It doesn't matter what you say or do. I can't tell you." He raised his eyebrow at me, his overconfidence in his ability to make me change my mind rearing its stupid head again.
"That's not what I want to talk to you about," he said and I tilted my head to the side. My hair spilled into my face and I reached up to tuck it behind my ear.
"Then why do you want to walk me home?" I wondered. He winked at me again and got to work on the lab. I helped, and even with the episode the day before, we finished before the majority of the class did. It made me slightly more comfortable with my decision not to switch partners.
"So, I'll meet you at your locker after school?" he asked as we gathered our stuff. It was about five minutes until the bell rang, and I was counting the seconds in my head. Edward was really starting to get on my nerves and I couldn't wait to get away from him so I could get a chance to think of a way to make him hate me. I was beginning to wonder if it was even possible.
"I'd really rather you didn't." He smiled at me. "But if you can find it, I guess you can walk me home." His expression turned a little unsure for a second. Then, Tanya walked up to us, sneering at me before she tapped Edward on the shoulder. I looked down at my lap and smiled. Tanya's unfounded hate towards me was my biggest source of amusement in high school.
"Hey, Edward. I'm Tanya, but everyone cool calls me T," she said, holding out her manicured hand. Edward looked at me, his eyes shining, before he shook it.
"Hey, Tanya. Nice to meet you. You know my friend Bella, right?" he asked. At first I had to hold back my giggles at his refusal to call her T, because he was pretty much admitting to her that he wasn't 'cool'. But once what he asked registered, I blanched at him. Was he trying to get my eyes clawed out by the pod squad? Maybe he really did want me dead. Tanya looked at me and her upper lip curled in disgust. I couldn't help it: I laughed.
"Yeah, we've met. Her locker is three away from mine." I choked on my laughter and glared at her. The bitch just gave Edward the information he needed without him even having to ask for it. Wasn't she supposed to be trying to keep him away from me, so she could get her claws into him?
"Oh yeah?" he asked, smiling wide at me. "Well, that's cool. Where is your locker, Tanya?"
The bell rang and I sprinted out of class, leaving Edward and Tanya sitting at our table. Damn it. I hated him. Why couldn't he just leave me the hell alone? Why did my life have to change just because there was a new guy who got some sort of sick pleasure out of torturing me? And why me? Why couldn't he want to walk Tanya home? She would be more than willing to spend the extra time with him.
The rest of the day went by faster than I wanted it to, and the last bell rang before I knew it. I ran to my locker and grabbed my stuff as fast as I could, hoping I could leave before Edward showed up to walk me home. But of course not. Lately I wasn't that lucky.
"Hey Edward!" I heard Tanya say. I looked up to see him walking towards me purposefully, his expression serious but his eyes shining with humor. My stomach jumped into my throat in nervousness. I definitely did not have a good feeling about whatever was going on in his weird mind.
"Come on, Bella!" he said as he walked up to me. His voice was loud enough to draw the attention of everyone near us in the hallway. "I know I'm the new guy. And I know you must have every guy after you. But just give me a chance. I know you said no in chemistry yesterday, but please go out with me!" I stared at him, my jaw almost touching my chest. I was so confused my head was spinning. But when my eyes scanned the faces in the hallway, I could already see the rumors about to fly. He was trying to not only disprove the rumors about him rejecting me, but also make my life more of a train wreck than it already was. Asshole. "So, how about it?" he asked when I didn't answer.
"Sorry, I can't," I said finally, meeting his eyes. He raised his eyebrows at me. I glared at him for a minute before I pushed passed him and hurried out the door. I could already hear people whispering about me and Edward. I was halfway down the block before he caught up to me.
"You said I could walk you home if I found your locker," he said as he fell into step beside me. I whirled around to face him and resisted the urge to kick him as hard as I could and run.
"What the hell, Edward?! Who do you think you are? Did you have to humiliate me in front of the entire school? What is it about me that makes you want to make my life a living hell?" I asked, stepping towards him until our chests were almost touching. I was so mad I could barely even think. And I was beginning to wonder why I'd stopped myself from kicking him. "Why me? I mean, Tanya likes you. Go fuck with her life. She likes being the center of attention. I don't. I'd rather be the fre-." My words cut off when Edward grabbed my arms and pulled me towards him. He leaned down to me and covered my mouth with his, and I was immediately sucked into the vision again.
Even though I'd already seen it, the vision of my death scared me just as must as it had the first time. I noticed new things this time, too. Like I could see that thug two had a gold tooth on the left side of his mouth and thug one had four rings on the hand that was holding the gun. I could see two rats fighting over a piece of moldy food under the dumpster and the logo on a box that was leaning against the wall. I could hear traffic in the distance, like we were only a half a block away from a busy street. I could feel a cold breeze brushing against Edward's arms and I noticed the goose bumps rising in response.
But all of these just made it seem more real.
I jerked my head away from Edward and stepped back, forcing him to let go of my arms. He was staring at me like he thought I was going to hit him. I almost did, but I suddenly felt like I was going to throw up, and my eyes were filling with tears again. I spun away from Edward and sprinted down the street blindly, not caring where I was going. All I knew was I had to get away. I had to be alone.
"Wait! Bella!" I heard Edward yell after me, his voice breathless from running. But I pushed myself harder. "Jeez, Bella, will you slow the fuck down?!"
"Leave me alone!" I yelled back at him. He must have heard me or fallen too far behind, because I suddenly couldn't hear him anymore. I kept running, keeping my head down so I didn't trip over anything. When I finally couldn't run anymore, I stopped and doubled over, holding my cramping sides. My chest felt tight, and my calves and lungs ached, unused to the speed I'd been moving at. I sat down on the sidewalk and buried my head in my hands, tears rolling down my face as I tried to catch my breath. Was I ever going to get used to that vision? Or would it continue to haunt me until it actually happened?
"Jeez, Bella, I didn't know you could run like that. But you need to listen to me-," Edward said, coming up behind me and plopping onto the curb by my side. I turned towards him without bothering to wipe my eyes. Maybe if he thought I was a pathetic crybaby he'd stop following me and let me get back to my semi normal, lonely existence. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you. But you wouldn't shut up." My vision turned red with anger and I balled my hands into fists. "But I still need to talk to you about something." I ignored him as I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my forehead against them. "About yesterday . . ."
"I'm not telling you anything." I heard him sigh.
"Come on, Bella. Every time I touch you, you run away. I think I deserve an explanation." I stood up and brushed the dirt and rocks off my jeans before I turned and looked down at him.
"Go to hell." I spun around and walked away. But of course he had to jump up and follow me.
"Bella, I-," he said. I cut him off without looking at him.
"Why won't you leave me the hell alone?" I asked. "Go stalk someone else." He laughed and again I had to hold myself back from punching him in the jaw. I had no idea why he found my anger so goddamn funny, but his arrogance was really grating on my nerves.
"You fascinate me," he replied. "I'm new here, so I need someone to amuse me."
"Lucky me," I said under my breath and he laughed again. "You know something fun you can do? Hang out with Tanya. She's even more interesting than me! And she's pretty," I told him. He snorted. "I'm sure you'll have a lot more fun with her than you would with me."
"Doubt it." I turned onto the block leading up to my house, Edward trailing after me. "Besides," he said after a couple of steps in silence. "She's like ... artificially pretty. Too much makeup and crap." I raised my eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "And you're prettier. Even without makeup," he said with a wink. I gritted my teeth together and looked forward, wishing that I was home and that Edward was somewhere else. Anywhere else.
"Bullshit, Edward." We walked up the walkway to my house and I couldn't wait to shut the door in his face. "And, you know, I'm sure Tanya will give you whatever you want. You won't even have to work for it. Me, on the other hand, you'd have to work for," I said.
"I like a challenge," he replied as I unlocked my front door. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the cold metal, my hand still around the doorknob. "And anything worth anything is worth working for."
"Well, I'm not worth it. Trust me." I twisted the doorknob and stepped into my house, but Edward put his palm on the door before I could close it.
"I'll be the judge of that. And I'm not giving up."
"Why not?!" I growled at him. "I want you to give up." He smiled and leaned towards me until I could feel his breath on my face.
"Well, I like you."
"Yeah? Well, I don't like you," I said, trying to force the door closed. He grinned wider, his eyes sparking with cockiness.
"We'll see." He moved his hand off the door and let me close it. I twisted the dead bolt before I pressed my back against it and slid down until I was sitting on the floor.
What the hell was I going to do? I had a feeling Edward wasn't going to leave me alone. And I knew that the more I begged him to, the more he'd bother me. Should I pretend I liked him so he'll get bored? Or would he take it the wrong way and think I actually did like him?
"Gah!" I shouted, throwing my hands in the air. "Boys are such a pain in the ass."
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone :D
Hope you enjoyed chapter three. Read, review, etc. You know the drill :p