A/N: Did you get my little comment from last chapter and how it coincided with this chapter? Hehe… snowball. Wait… you haven't read that yet. Oops.
I love you all! Italic underlined at Bella's thoughts, by the way.
Disclaimer: I am not Stephanie Meyers. I own nothing.
An Ode to Silence
The next day began as a repeat of yesterday, so much that I began feeling deja' vu for a while.
I went through the same motions, ended up picking an outfit only slightly different from yesterday, (jeans and a long sleeve light blue shirt) and grabbed my black raincoat from the same place in my closet. Amazingly, I also somehow managed to trip on the same step and fall in the same fashion. Way to think new thoughts.
Before I realized this, I was going on auto. Now that the thought had crossed my mind, I stood there blinking and absently rubbing my throbbing leg that I had hurt again by falling. Suddenly, I frowned and was hit by a sudden sense of doubt as I crossed the room to look at the calendar. Yes, this was Tuesday and Monday really did happen.
I couldn't have imagined his eyes. They'd haunted my nightmares all night but I never saw Edward's face in my dreams. I only saw his angry black eyes.
When I got to school, things went by quickly. Mike didn't seem bothered by my little outburst the day before and came to sit by me in English. He offered to walk with me to my next class and I was honestly still feeling a little bad about yesterday so I agreed while Eric glared at him the entire time. That was new but very flattering.
At lunch, I gave up and sat with a group that included Jessica, Angela, Mike and Erik. I was still struggling with the group setting and all their chatter but it wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday. Plus, as I looked around the cafeteria, everyone else wasn't staring at me quite as much. I was beginning to relax but I couldn't help but notice that Edward Cullen wasn't in the cafeteria. His siblings were there but he was missing.
Yesterday was still sore in my mind as I pictured his inimical glares at me again like I'd committed some atrocity. I felt the dread I'd had over seeing him again but I was almost glad he was gone. Almost glad, because I felt somehow disappointed. It was a mystery to me how I could miss him glaring at me on any level.
Shrugging it off, I walked with golden retriever-like Mike to Biology and I wondered if I'd reconciled my feelings about him being gone too soon. Maybe he just ate lunch somewhere else. But, no. The desk where he would've sat was empty. Mike lingered by my desk a little longer, chattering something about a beach trip before my thoughts drifted elsewhere and I could no longer concentrate on reading his lips.
I'd have to do something about him. He and Erik were both… overly friendly. I had no practice with that seeing as I had no practice with people actually talking to me instead of awkwardly passing me in the hall.
Eventually, the school day ended and I was pleased to find that I had successfully evaded Mike. I didn't need his company at the moment. Swiftly, I weaved through the crowded parking lot full of fleeing students and sighed with relief when I sat safely in my truck.
Last night, I made a horrific discovery…. Charlie can't cook much more then eggs and bacon so I requested that I take over making the food that way both of us can eat well. How did he survive all these years? Also, he didn't exactly have any food in the fridge, other than fish, fish, and more fish so it seemed I was heading to the store. That is, unless I wanted eggs and fish for supper.
I started my truck and instantly noticed heads turning my way. C'mon people! It's just an old truck! I backed out carefully and positioned myself in the line of cars to leave the parking lot. While I sat there, twiddling my thumbs, I observed the Cullens and the Hale twins getting into the silver Volvo I'd noticed yesterday. It figured.
They were beautiful and, as I noticed their clothes for the first time, rich. I'd been too enchanted by their gorgeous faces before. Their clothes were simple enough but hinted at designer origins. Their clothes definitely wouldn't be seen hanging up on the racks at Wal-Mart. Still, they could've worn dishrags and made them look like they were straight off a runway as the newest style.
Their heads turned my way as I passed too.
Grocery shopping put me at peace in a strange way. From the instant I'd gained my driver's license, it had been my job to get the groceries back home too. When I arrived at Charlie's house, I unloaded the groceries and without a method to the madness, I stuffed them in the yellow kitchen cupboards wherever they fit. I just hoped I wouldn't be in too much of a rush to find anything until I could figure out just where to put everything next time.
Carefully, I went about cooking dinner, which consisted of steak and potatoes. It was an old favorite of mine that Renee had only cooked a few times. She was an imaginative cook to be kind. If I didn't wish to be kind, I'd say that many times she just grabbed ingredients at random and made something, though I was never quite sure what.
When Charlie came home, he shed his gun belt and jacket and found me reading Wuthering heights in the living room. I think I worried him though when I raced over to the kitchen to pull out the potatoes and put in the steak because he warily peeked in to watch me, eyeing the potatoes like he was afraid they might decide to blow up.
"What's for dinner?" he asked with an odd look on his face. He obviously still remembered some of Renee's cooking. Her cooking had blown up a few times.
"Steak and potatoes," I responded out of breath from my previous panic that I'd overcooked the potatoes.
He seemed appeased and lumbered to the handkerchief sized living room to watch the game while I busied myself in the kitchen. As I cleaned, peppered this, salted that, I'd sometimes glance over at Charlie with a grin on my face. It was sort of nice how we'd settled into a routine. I realized that I liked that and it was beginning to feel like I could get used to Forks. That didn't mean I would hate the rain, gym, or certain other things any less but I could get used to it.
Dinner that night was fairly quiet but comfortable and after we finished, he cleared the table and I started on the dishes. He went to watch TV once he was done but I was still working. I didn't mind though. I was content with the work I busied myself in and glad that it relieved Charlie of it so he could rest.
When my work in the kitchen was complete, I went back to my room and started on the homework assigned to me that day in class. I knew of nothing but school and trivial things as the day ended and I crawled into my safe, warm bed.
The remainder of the week went okay. With each passing day, I was able to recognize more people and I grew more at ease. I wasn't as concerned about people finding out about my deafness. Maybe that wasn't good but I slipped in anyway and felt comfortable. Edward Cullen was no longer of my concern. I didn't know if he was going to come back to school at all.
The weekend was basically spent at home for me. Charlie on the other hand, continued to work since he didn't seem to be used to spending much time in the home. I cleaned, did homework, wrote to my harebrained mom, and went to the library. The sight of the small building had concerned me and rightfully so it seemed. Their selection was extremely scanty. I didn't even bother getting a card.
On Monday, I was in good spirits. No one stared at me like I was the brand new freak show at the circus anymore but I was still noticed and didn't expect to be able to fade into the walls for a long time to come. I'd even started thinking of Charlie's house as my home. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Well, yes it was but there were also things here that I didn't give it enough credit for.
When we walked out of English, I stared up at the sky in horror at the swirling bits of white fell mockingly to the ground. As I watched one float to the ground, I winced and grimaced. Involuntarily, I looked at Mike, knowing that he'd probably make a comment.
"Wow," I was right. "It's snowing." I grumbled using a colorful assortment of words and he looked surprised. I wasn't obligated to be dumbfounded in sheer joy at the cold weather. Snow had a way of melting and soaking my socks no matter what I tried. At least the rain was straightforward about it.
"Don't you like the snow?" he asked with eyebrows raised. I shook my head vehemently, thus ending the conversation. He might've said something else but a snowball slammed into the back of his head so I made my getaway. The conversations that I was able to catch bits of were all about the snow and how amazing it was.
By lunch time, the snowball craze had caught on and it seemed that there were two, epic snowball wars going on simultaneously. As Mike, Jessica, and I walked inside the cafeteria, I wondered about Edward Cullen whom I hadn't seem since last Monday. Surreptiously, I glanced at the table in the corner of the room. Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear.
A/N: Now review or I'll make her ditch Edward for Jacob! No… I wouldn't do that. Or would I? :3