Author's notes : Here's chapter 3 ! I hope you'll like it, the best is to come for chapter 4, I had an idea yesterday night before sleeping lol
Karine
Chapter 3 :
I was right. Alice and I stayed in the shops until the closing. She had been looking at everything, making comments on the fabrics of clothes, had been trying all kinds of clothes and had looked like she was really enjoying herself. She had even forced me to try some and she had bought me four dresses and two shirts. The shirts are really beautiful and I'll certainly often wear them but the dresses… I have never been fond of dresses. I've always preferred casual clothes. When I had told Alice I won't probably wear them, she had looked at me with the eyes of a 5 year-old who had just been punished.
"Bella ! Why do you think those clothes are beautiful and full of style ?? They have to be worn by beautiful girls. And you're one of those girls." She had lightly touched my nose with her index.
I had rolled my eyes at her and had said "ok".
So here I am, with four more dresses (one black, two deep blue and one red – red, what was she thinking ??) and two more shirts for my wardrobe. Actually, the more I was looking at this wonderful light blue shirt, the more I was thinking I could wear this tomorrow…
"I knew you liked it," Alice said with a big smile on her face.
I closed my closet and turned to glare at her. I didn't know what to say so I just stuck my tongue at her. She laughed out loud.
"Do you wanna play Wii with me ?" she suddenly asked.
"Er… I was going to hunt actually," I replied, looking down.
"Oh," she said. "Can I go with you ?"
I walked to her, took her hand and we jumped out the window.
********
I put on black pants and the shirt I noticed yesterday. I let my hair down and put no make-up on my face. I checked my eyes in the mirror and was reassured : they were golden-brown. Maybe he would notice the difference in my eyes. They were getting lighter and lighter everyday, I was completely full of blood in my system. I shook my head and got downstairs.
Rosalie was still angry at me, I decided to ignore her.
The first part of the day was easy to live, Alice was still checking on Jessica or Mike and smiled from time to time, I just looked at her and raised my eyebrows during those moments. Then, there was lunch. Alice took my arm as we walked to the cafeteria.
"Mike is even more annoyed than yesterday," Alice told me, laughing.
"Edward ?" I asked though I knew the answer would be positive.
She nodded. "He even thinks about killing him actually."
That thought sent a wave of anger through me but I fought it. "Did he ask anything about me again ?"
Alice nodded again. "He wanted to know why no one talked to you, adding that you seemed kind to him."
I sighed. This wasn't getting any easier. We arrived at our table before he was sat, I saw Jessica in the line and he was there, next to her, pretending to be interested by whatever she was telling him. That made me laugh quietly. And suddenly, Edward turned around and his eyes stopped on me, our eyes met but I looked down. Alice exhaled and said :
"Bella, you're gonna disappoint him. He wanted to smile at you."
I glared at her. "Why are you so excited about this ? I could kill him in a second !"
"That's right." She paused and add : "But I know you won't."
"Oh really ?" I replied in a sarcastic tone.
"Yes really. Stop pretending you're blind !" She snapped.
"What ?" I said, honestly surprised.
"Bella, come on, it just shows in the way you look at him and the way he looks at you ! You should begin to accept the truth…"
I frowned at her but didn't say anything. A part of me knew she was right, but another part didn't want to accept it. I glanced at Edward, he was at the check now and was looking at me with a curious look in his eyes. He's certainly seen Alice and I arguing and was now wondering what was wrong. I gave it a try and smiled at him. He didn't expect this, blushed and shyly smiled back. I looked at Alice who was smiling at me in a glorious way. I knew she was absolutely sure of her and I knew I could trust her.
I could feel Rosalie's fierce look on me. I turned to glare at her.
Do you have any idea what you're doing ??
Of course, I'm not stupid, you know.
Sometimes, I really wonder about you, Bella. If something goes wrong-
"I know, damn it Rosalie !!" I said real loud.
Many people around turned their heads to us, waiting for the freaks to fight. Rosalie's jaw tightened and she suddenly got up, letting her chair fall on the lino and she walked angrily to the exit. Emmett sighed and ran towards her, Rosalie and I often had hard times to understand each other. For now, she was really pissing me off. Jasper's power had its effect on me.
"Thanks Jasper," I told him. He just smiled.
Mike was staring at me but I didn't care as I was looking at Edward. He was chatting with Eric, he looked behind him to see where Rosalie went and then quickly glanced at me. I checked the time on my cell and got up. Alice and Jasper did the same. We quietly got out of the cafeteria.
A few minutes later, I took my seat in the lab, looking at the students coming in. Jessica and Mike came in together, he glanced at me and sat. Edward came in with Eric, they were still talking, about Edward's mother's job apparently. They left each other with a smile and Edward pulled the chair next to me and sat. He looked up at me.
"Hi Bella. Er… Do you want to postpone our work this afternoon ?" He asked me.
I frowned and replied : "No, it's ok. Why do you ask me this ?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to talk to your sister."
"Oh Rosalie, no. It's okay, she's just a little stubborn."
"Mmm," he simply replied.
I took a deep breath, slowly, letting the flames burn my throat. I had to get used to his scent if I wanted to get closer to him, somehow. I think I was giving up now, whatever's meant to be is meant to be. If everything goes well, I accept it. If it goes bad… I shook my head to erase this thought from my mind. I promised myself I'll make everything ok.
I was so busy thinking that I didn't notice Edward was staring at me. He smiled a bit and chuckled.
"What is it ?" I asked him, puzzled by his behaviour.
"Are you wearing contacts ?"
Damn it. I pretended to be surprised by his question and replied : "No."
"But your eyes look different today, they are lighter, I know they were black when…"
He didn't finish his sentence. I had to say something but what ? I made up the silliest lie on Earth.
"I… I have an eye disease. UV rays make them look different sometimes." I looked down to pretend I was embarrassed by this revelation.
I could already hear Alice laugh when I'll tell her about this. I looked up to see his reaction and though his eyes were wary, he was smiling at me.
"I'm sorry about it, does it bother you in your daily life ?"
I think any other human would have asked for the name of the disease. I was reassured he wasn't asking this – well, not yet at least – and said :
"Hum… No, it's okay. Most people think my eyes are weird actually but they're ok, I can see perfectly." Really perfectly.
"I don't think they're weird, they… they look beautiful to me."
We looked at each other for a few seconds and I said : "Well, er, thanks."
Mr Banner told us to stop talking and we began to listen to the class. At the end of the class, Edward got up at the same time as me and told me : "Er… How do we do ? Should I… Do we go directly at my house ?"
"Yeah, I just need to give my keys to Alice and we could go." Where the hell was this leading us to ??
He nodded and walked behind me to the exit. Alice joined us in the hall.
"Hey Edward, nice to meet you !" She gave him a huge smile. He smiled a bit.
"Tell Esmée I'll be back around…" I turned to Edward.
"Er… 6 if you want." He replied, running his fingers through his hair.
"6," I told Alice, giving her the keys.
She took them and kissed me on the cheek : "Ok, see you later Edward !"
We walked silently to Edward's car, he broke the silence :
"She seems to be a nice girl."
I smiled and said : "Yeah, she is. She is a great person."
As we passed by my car, I saw Rosalie glaring at us. I didn't want Edward to see her so I talked to him :
"That's a nice car you have."
"Thanks," he replied, opening the passenger door for me.
The ride to his home was quiet, actually I really felt like a 17 year-old human who had her first love next to her and who didn't know what to say. It was so awkward.
His house was cute, the walls were white and I could see the curtains were ivory. He opened the door of the house and let me come in first, what a gentleman.
"My Mom comes home around 8," he told me.
"8 ? That's quite late."
"She's an attorney in Seattle," he explained.
"That's far from here," I replied as I gave him my coat.
"Yeah but it pays well," he made a big smile.
"Yeah, for sure," I chuckled.
"Do you want something to drink or eat ?" He nicely asked as he went to the kitchen.
"No, thanks," I smiled at him.
"I'll be right back, my laptop is up in my room," he said as he went upstairs.
"Sure."
I got up and went to the living room. The house was warm and lovely, it showed that a woman owned it. There were flowers in each room so it smelled pretty good. There were stickers on the walls : ladybugs, flowers again, patterns. The whole house was colourful. I wondered what kind of person Edward's mother was, certainly in her 40's but still young in her mind. I heard Edward getting downstairs and sat at the big table next to the window. He put his brand new Mac next to me and pulled his chair.
"I like the way your mother personalized the house, it's lovely," I told him.
"My Mom loves everything that is full of color, and kinda girly," he replied, laughing tenderly.
"How old is she ?"
"This looks like the house of a 20 years-old but she's 42."
I nodded. He opened his laptop and started it. "You should take a look at the garden, you can see it by the window," he said, pointing it.
I got up and went to the window and sincerely gasped. This was the most beautiful garden I've ever seen : a few steps led the way to a small pond surrounded by pink and blue flowers, there was a pergola right above it with honeysuckle crawling on the wood. A bit farther was several trees, I recognized apple trees, cherry trees and a huge walnut tree. There was so much time and love put into the creation and upkeep of the place. I turned around and asked Edward :
"How does she find the time to do that if she works so much ?"
"I help her sometimes but mostly, she takes care of it during the weekend," he replied.
I nodded and came back to my seat.
"So, shall we start ?" he asked, sounding like one of those boys from my early human years.
"Sure," I replied as I took my notes.
The afternoon went well, we agreed on most of our essay, I was the one to type on the Mac as he was quite slow but I had to keep a human pace.
"Wow, you make no mistakes !"
"Er… yeah, I like to type actually," I explained. He simply nodded.
Then, after 2 hours spent on our work, we had a break – though I didn't need any – and we talked a bit.
"Don't you miss Phoenix ?" I asked him.
"I miss the sun," he laughed.
I laughed too and suddenly, I saw his face turning a bit red. I hadn't done anything special though.
"You don't see the sun very often here," I said.
"But I like it here, it's okay. Most of the people are nice," the edge in his voice at the end of his sentence made me guess he wanted to add something more but he didn't.
"But… ?"
He laughed nervously and said : "I don't think Mike really likes me actually."
"Oh Mike… Honestly, I don't really like him. He fakes too much."
"What do you mean ?"
"I mean that sometimes he can act as if he was your friend but behind your back, it's something else."
"Oh yeah, I noticed. Eric is a nice guy."
"He is, and Angela Weber is a nice girl."
He nodded and asked : "Jessica told me you were in Alaska before coming in Forks a couple of years ago, why did you move ?"
"Well, we all love Alaska, we have very good friends over here, they're like family to us. But Carlisle, my father, wanted to work in another hospital, the people he used to work with left and those who replaced them didn't always agree with the way my father works so…"
We carried on talking a bit, about his life in Phoenix, his friends. I didn't dare ask too many questions for now, I didn't want to forget what happened the other day, and I really couldn't forget because he had leant to me once again and his scent was burning my throat and my mouth was full of venom. I was breathing slowly. As I was listening to him and looking at him, his beauty hit me, he had perfect features. His eyes were small but his look was captivating ; his nose was straight and his lips were thin. His features were balanced. He was truly handsome.
He drove me back home for 6. I put off my seatbelt and turned to him :
"Well thanks for taking me home."
"You're welcome, Bella. That's a beautiful house."
"Thank you," I replied before smiling at him and say : "See you tomorrow Edward."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
I got out of the car and came in my house.
