I made my way to English class quickly. I was late. Nobody was out in the hallway anymore. I tried to enter quietly, but that hope was shot, when the teacher glared pointedly at me. Mike wasn't in his usual spot beside me, and I worried that maybe I had scorned him, Eric and Tyler too efficiently. That hope wasn't completely lost though, as Mike and Eric still walked me to my next class. I spent some extra effort trying to focus on the conversation, and get my mind off of Edward Cullen. Mike seemed to gain enthusiasm as we walked, and was talking more eagerly about his beach trip on the weekend.

I traded notes with Angela before my next class, and realised that after all her hard and diligent work over the past several weeks I owed her some dinner or something. She had kept near perfect script, examples, and side notes in her notes, and they all looked like something out of a study guide, rather than notes you should be hurriedly taking in class.

"Ang, I swear these are getting better as we go on. I didn't even think that was possible." I shook my head as I examined her use of underlining, capitalisation and colour coordination.

"It is actually helping me absorb the information too you know. The better notes I keep for you, the more intently I'm listening. You're only helping my grades really." She laughed in response.

"I still owe you dinner at some point."

"Done deal."

After class we walked to the cafeteria, talking about where we should head for dinner. My eyes glanced reflexively towards the Cullen table, and my stomach dropped again. He was missing. The other four were there, but he wasn't. Had our conversation this morning altered his mood that much that he was skipping out again? I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and managed to knock Jessica into Mike. I froze, sheepishly, expecting a backlash from Jessica, but she seemed almost elated that Mike had caught her, and was making sure she was okay before he let go again. I'd probably get an earful and a micro-analysis about everything he did, and heck, maybe even a thank you. But in the meantime I blushed and awkwardly slid around them, muttering an apology. I'd managed to lose my appetite, and I bought only a bottle of lemonade. I wanted to go sit down and mull over the events of this morning. I was obviously not paying any attention to my friends, because suddenly Angela nudged me meaningfully and I looked up towards her. She nodded her head towards Jessica.

"- at you again." I caught from her. I scrunched my nose in a frown.

"Sorry for bumping into you Jess. I didn't mean to and I'm glad you're fine." I tried. She blinked at me confusedly for a few seconds and I realised I'd totally missed the point. She had obviously tried to start a new line of conversation. "And pardon? I was totally out of it there." I tacked on.

"It's fine. And I said, Edward Cullen is staring at you again. I wonder why he's sitting alone today." She nodded her head towards the far end of the cafeteria. My gaze followed hers, and I found him sitting at a table, alone, with a tray of food. And indeed he was staring at me. He smiled and raised his hand, beckoning me over. I looked back at Jessica as I heard her begin to speak.

" – mean you?"

I shrugged, and Angela nudged me again. I looked at her, expecting a re-direct, but instead she gave me a smile and nodded towards Edward Cullen.

"He might need help with his Biology homework, or something." I muttered lamely to them, and headed over to him. I knew that Jessica would also be micro-analysing this lunch period, and I stupidly hoped that she'd actually get distracted. When I got to the opposite side of the table I fixed my eyes on his lips. I wasn't going to miss a second of this if I could help it.

"Why don't you site with me today?" he smiled, he half looked like he was hoping I'd refuse him, and half looked like he truly wanted the company. I sat down, as gracefully as I could manage, hoping nothing about my rubber boots and coat squeaked too loudly. I reaffixed my gaze to his smile and waited. He was silent.

"Well this is different." I chuckled. "Are you having second thoughts about letting me drive us to Seattle?"

He suddenly cringed slightly, looking over to his sibling's table, and I wondered if he was thinking about explaining our 'outing' together later. His focus snapped back to me within a second.

"No. Your driving doesn't particularly thrill me, but I can manage." He was smiling again. "And as for the new seating arrangements, I decided that as long as I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly."

I flicked my gaze up to his eyes again. They were light in colour, but dark with intensity. I waited a few seconds again.

"I don't know if you noticed, but I tend to get a little lost in conversations anyway, so if you could try to avoid the riddle-speak I'd appreciate it." I offered. He ducked his head down, as if I'd scolded him.

"You're right. I'm sorry. That was rude of me. I know I should try to be clear and simple, but my - and words seem to run - when I'm with you." I'm sure my face betrayed some irritation at missing a few of his words, because he suddenly began to speak a little louder. "I think your friends are angry with me for stealing you."

"I wouldn't say angry. I got a surprised vibe more than anything." I could feel their stares at my back and I shrugged. "And I should probably warn you that Jessica at least is watching everything you do."

"Oh I'm aware. She's analysing while Mike is contemplating an invasion."

"An invasion?"

"To break up this intimate get together," he explained. I laughed properly now.

"You and I have different opinions on the definition of 'intimate get together'. This is just lunch."

He smiled too, and then his face became more serious, "But I may not give you back."

"Why the sudden interest? You went from what I could only classify as an angry resentment, to willingly offering yourself up to an eight hour confinement." I shook my head bemused. "It's almost like you lost a bet."

"First of all, it wasn't an angry resentment. I was trying to keep away from you Bella. I'm not good for you. You really shouldn't be friends with me and if you were smart you'd stay away. Secondly, I told you that I was tired of trying to stay away from you. That is the reason for my abrupt turn around. And thirdly, my brothers were actually betting on when I'd finally crack and start interacting with you." He leaned back, folding his arms and scowling over towards his sibling's table again, before returning his intense gaze to me. I thought about my response for a second.

"Okay. That's fair. Although I can't really condone the gambling aspect." I tried to joke. He smiled slightly, weakly in response. "So what do we talk about now? Most of our conversations have involved our lack of civility, or class topics."

"Actually, I believe there was at least one discussion about weather in there." He corrected, relaxing a little more.

"You're right. How could I have forgotten?" I laid on the sarcasm a little thickly, but it kept him relaxed. I looked down at my lemonade and opened the bottle.

"Not hungry?" he asked. I shot him a sarcastic look. All of his food was equally untouched, as I had seen it many times before.

"A little hypocritical, since you and your siblings don't seem to mind skipping the 'eating' part of eating lunch." I actually used air-quotes with my fingers around my point of emphasis. Edward scowled, almost angrily at me. His lips turned down in a frown and his body tensed up. I sighed.

"Sorry. Forget I said that. I wasn't trying to pry." I looked down at my lemonade bottle. Why had I dug at him? Things were going so well. "I suppose you aren't the only one whose thoughts run away with them."

I stared determinedly at my lemonade bottle, took a sip, and then stared back at it. Edward waved a hand to grab my attention.

"My mother feeds us quite well at breakfast, and again at dinnertime. If we eat lunch too, how else are we supposed to maintain our figures?" he was offering an out. I'd take it. He was a terrible liar, but I didn't want to spend the lunch hour having him sulking or fuming. It then occurred to me that once again he had caught my attention before speaking. I suddenly looked at him sharply. His father was my attending physician after all. Had he spoken about my hearing? Edward seemed to see me tense up, and looked at me guardedly.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"How… Did… " What was I even going to ask? How did he know? Did he know at all? Did Doctor Cullen, or Charlie spill the beans? Or had he caught Angela and I signing together? I snapped my mouth shut to think. Edward looked more frustrated than I did in that moment. As if he was expecting to know exactly what I was about to say, and it had been taken away from him.

"What exactly do you know about conversing with me?"