"Edward!" I called out to him and he spun around, as graceful as ever, staring me right in the eye. I stopped my feet before they catch on each other and I tumbled down, and felt my heart race increase to a dangerously high beat. My stomach flips in my stomach and my breathing all but stopped. How could he do that?

"Bella." He made my name sing, even in that quick mutter of my name. I frowned, though, because his voice was off. Not the offhanded cheery sound I used to know; now the forced sound of love oozed past his lips. My frown remained as he almost begrudgingly placed a lightening quick peck on my lips, his eyes never once finding mine again.

"What's wrong?" I demanded, resisting as he tries to clasp my hand in his ice cold one. As much as I wanted nothing more than to feel his skin against mine, something was off. I wasn't an idiot, and I could almost feel his tension in the air. It was his turn to frown, the creases on his forehead almost perfectly symmetrical, his eyes nearly squinting as he glances down at me, lips turned down at the corners. I could only shrug and look away from his calculated look.

"Nothing." How smooth his voice was, how calm. "Why would you think something was wrong?"

Another shrug and I walk on, him calm as ever as he matches my short and slow strides. My mind was oddly blank, when in most other times I would be over thinking and over analyzing this as much as necessary to make myself calm down. My frown deepened, and I could feel the muscles around my mouth get tired because of the effort. I relaxed, shaking my head to see if I could jar any thoughts or feelings from hiding. Nothing came.

First class was dull, Edward and I not talking, our bodies angled away from each other but still remarkably close to not be touching. People had stopped noticing us, and I felt oddly alone as I looked around at the quiet chatter that was going on around me. I took thorough notes, realizing that the writing took my mind off the person sitting stiffly beside me. Glancing down at my page at the end of my class, I saw that my once thorough and neat notes were now masked by overlapping scribbled and doodles of stray characters and words my mind had conjured up in an effort to keep my hand moving. I would have to get notes from someone else in the class, then.

Walking into the cafeteria I almost grimaced. Loud, animated conversations were going on all around us, and I almost sneered as Edward and I walked to our normal table with Alice. She began to talk quickly, ignoring the obvious tension between Edward and I and I simply glared at the wall across from me. It was strange, really, because I still hadn't thought of one thing relating to reasons why Edward was ignoring me, only that it was bothering me in an extreme way. I had been feeling slightly off ever since he returned. Yes, I was happier than I had been when he was gone, but I simply couldn't shake the feeling he was almost ready to leave again. That he was only here to make me happy. This only made me frown, yet again.

"You know…" Alice's voice pulled me out of my own mind and I turned to look at her, frown still firmly in place. "You're going to get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that."

I didn't respond, and my frown only deepened. Wrinkles. Old people, they got wrinkles. I was hoping I would never become an old person, yet now, even Alice was saying I would get them. I refrained from smashing my fists against the table in frustration. Did no one want me to change anymore, then? We had voted, had we not? They had promised. The thought of the promise sent me into another long string of thoughts revolving around the idea of my own turning. Edward had said he would if I promised to marry him. Did I want to marry him? Honestly, I still wasn't sure. I loved him, yes, but marriage? How trivial. Could we not get married after I knew he was going to keep his promise? How did I know he wouldn't just break his promise once he knew I was solely devoted to him until my life ended? I didn't, and that's where my mind hesitated on the image of us, married. Myself considerably older than him in all his godlike seventeen year old perfection.

When I didn't reply, Alice sighed and threw her hands up, obviously exasperated.

"I'll leave you two alone, then," she grumbled, quickly getting up and gliding out of the cafeteria. I didn't turn to see her go; I didn't even acknowledge her leaving. I looked at Edward, who was intently staring at me.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked, his voice showing clear indifference that did nothing to ease my frown.

"Many things," I said simply, as indifferent as him. It was his turn to frown.

"Why are you mad?" he questioned. I glared, as if he didn't realize that already.

"Don't play stupid," I hissed, clenching my fists under the table where he couldn't see. He could, however, see my tightly clenched jaw and extremely tense upper body.

"I'm not."

I stared at him, and I'm sure I looked incredibly angry; from the reaction I got from him. The giant frown that creased his skin, the confused and slightly shocked look in his eyes, the way he leaned towards me. I didn't shift my expression, not in the slightest, as I stared back at him. Eyes unwavering. He finally sighed and leaned back.

"What's wrong, Bella?" I had made him exasperated as well, and his voice was strained as he rubbed his face with his hands. Another one of his oh so elegant movements.

"I wonder," I spat. I glanced at the clock on the wall and almost smirked; there was only five minutes until next period. "Time to go."

I stood wordlessly then, and he did as well, his perplexed gaze never straying from me.

In all honesty, the more I thought about it, I myself didn't understand my undeniable anger. I suppose that this time, I wasn't getting upset over the fact I thought he was hiding something from me. No, I wasn't getting sad or upset. I was getting angry. I assume it was because I had become tired of the emotional hold he had on me, tired of working my self up into a state of hyperventilation and utter distress. I wanted to feel like I was in a normal relationship with someone who loved me. In normal relationships, one person does not constantly cling onto little reassurances from the other, and one person does not have heart ripped out and squished for their own good. No, in normal relationships, one person did something the other didn't like, and that person got angry. And, what's more, one person didn't need to be constantly reassured.

In real and normal relationships, the two were equal. And those two equal people, they fought.

I realized in the last class what it was I wanted, and why I was acting as I did. I wanted to fight. I wanted to feel equal to him and to everyone else out there. I wasn't going to be inferior and weak any longer.