A/n: Did anyone miss me? I know you guys will never forgive me for my long time disappearance, but I'm back… I've just been so busy, what with school work, dance practice for CNY concert, and visiting relatives to collect angpao. But now, most of these are over, so I have time to write!
This chapter is for:powerhungry, iluvedward4eva, GirlWithoutaName (for her attempt), Isabella-and-Edward4eva, keyila, gerardsgirl14, bookwrm150, accepted on the inside, Nadia, Munro, AlicechenAlexandromeda Cullen II, wingedspiritCantante Bello. With brownie points to: Me! and tinkerbell0403, who got the original quote, which was from Ender's game.
Chapter 10:
EPOV
I blinked twice. Before Esme stood a beautiful young women, her coppery hair done up like she came from the early 20th century. Her skin was as pale as Bella's were. She was wearing Bella's clothes, and had a relatively similar profile. But she was not Bella. I looked at everyone else in the room; they all seem to be as shocked as I was. However, the one who was most shocked was Esme. Her thoughts were a bit out of control, but what I saw most often was a funeral procession.
"But… but… but, you were dead… Tom saw you jump off the bridge… how?" stammered Esme.
"I'm a water sprite, that can't kill me; I've been living centuries longer than you have. But, a vampire! Esme! Oh, this is such an amazing coincidence!" Then seeing the confused look on everyone else's face, Bella, or should I say, Francis, changed back, and explained.
"We were kind of best friends back before Esme was…"
"Changed, yes, but everyone had thought she had committed suicide when her husband died in the war."
My mind was reeling, she was married? Well, I supposed after living a couple hundred years she would have been married at least a few times. What was I thinking? Am I jealous? Why would I be Jealous? Do I like this Bella Swan, or Francis, or whoever she was? Maybe I do. OhMyGod, I have to stop thinking like that; she is just a friend. Tell yourself that. She Is Just A Friend, Has Existed Longer Than You, And Will Probably Never Be Interested In You. Cancel out that "Probably" back there.
The family left the two long lost friends to catch up on the past century, and then we, meaning Esme and I, took her on a tour of the house.
Looking around, Bella asked Esme, "You designed this didn't you? Always the creative one."
If Esme could blush, she would have been bright red, but instead, she smiled sheepishly and mumbled a thank you. I guess we've kind of taken her for granted, and hadn't praised her works for quite a while.
The tour eventually led to the rooms upstairs, by then it was just us two as Esme had left. I hesitated to show her my room. I grudgingly opened the door. It wasn't much anyways. The CD stacked high against one wall, on either sides of the player. Without a bed, but instead, a black leather couch.
"Well, what do you think?" I asked
"Very you," she replied, beaming, and then took another look around, and joked "no coffins?"
I raised an eyebrow. I settled down next to her in the couch, not too close, not too far, and asked the question that has been on my mind during the 'tour'.
"Who are you, really? Is your name Francis, or are you Bella, what do you really look like?"
"Me? What I really look like? No different than your average glass of water. See, I don't really have a real human look, I'm not human. As for my name, it's in the ancient language of the water sprites, it's..." She then made a sound, a melody, but in no language I understood, and having lived for nearly a hundred and ten years, there are many languages that I do know. I must have looked confused, because she immediately said, "but you can just call me Bella."
"Well, then Bella, I think we should go meet Carlisle now, I think he would be very interested to know more about water sprites." I could already hear his thoughts, curiously pondering about water sprites.
I offered my hand to help Bella up from the couch.
XxXxXxXxX
BPOV
I took his hand, and without using much effort, he pulled me up. Opening the door, he held it for me to step through first, who said chivalry was dead?
Coming from behind, he noticed me staring at the wooden cross hanging on the end of the corridor.
"Kind of ironic isn't it?" he asked. I nodded not wanting to seem rude. "It belonged to Carlisle, carved many years ago, perhaps as old as Carlisle himself."
"How old is Carlisle?"
"362 this year, I'm 110. How about you?"
"Not very nice to ask of a ladies age is it? But if you must know, I'm about 523."
Edward's mouth was kind of in a 'o' shape, the light glittering off it made it look so inviting. But I kept that thought to myself, good thing he couldn't read my mind.
We enter Carlisle's office, and to cut the long story short, I learned more about vampires, Carlisle's life story, and leading to the Cullens' 'vegetarianism'. And Carlisle got to know more about water sprites, nothing that I haven't told Edward already. But he asked a new question.
"Is officer Swan your real father? How do your kind reproduce, we change others with our venom, but your kind can obviously not convert human beings into water."
"Our younglings are produced, by putting some of two or more individual's home water together. The life force would hopefully bring about another being. It does not always work though. And to answer you other question, Charlie is not my real father.
"I was what they called a water child, I just came into existence, out of the water, like the first of our kinds. Water children are rare, and usually end up playing a huge role in history, when found they are usually taken to Atlantis first. I was given to the care of Renee and Charlie who was one of the higher nobilities in Atlantis. They decided to abandon that lifestyle to raise me away from the politics, because they had taken a liking to me, and wanted me to grow up away from the stress that the few other water children faced. The king was not happy with it, of course, and decided that they will be stripped of their titles if they left, thinking that will make them stay, but it was exactly what they wanted. No fame, no stress, just a happy family."
Yeah, I guess that sounded kinda cheesy, like it came out of a Korean soap opera, like Goong S.
We chatted till quite late, Edward then saw me back home. But this time, I drove.
Edward walked me to the front porch, the dim yellow lights glittering off his pale perfect skin. We stood there, not saying anything, but it was a nice kind of silence. Sadly, it has to be broken.
"Well, goodbye then."
"Goodbye, see you tomorrow," he replied, sounding rather reluctant.
I started to unlock the door.
"Wait, Bella."
I turned around, only to have Edward pull me close, by the waist. Edward planted his cold, hard, and dead lips onto mine, strangely it felt warm and soft. I pulled back in shock. Then, I decided to kiss him back.
"Bella, I love you, will you be my girlfriend?"
My heart stopped, not that it needed to beat anyway. Okay, chill. Be cool. I told myself. I rearranged my expression into a cheeky smile. I think I love you too, but if you want me to be your girl, you're going to have to try a little harder."
Edward looked a little bewildered, but he smiled. "Go on then, good night," he said giving me a peck on the cheek.
I smiled, and walked in, closing the door. I looked out of the window, and watched as he ran off, smiling to myself, my heart thudding in my chest.
I went upstairs, changed and plopped myself on the bed, drifting off into dreamland, no surprise who I'll meet there.
When I left the house the next morning, to my surprise, I found Edward's silver Volvo parked outside. He stepped out to open the door for me.
When he got back into the car, and we were off to school I asked, "what's this about?"
"You wanted me to try harder. So from today onwards, I'm going to send you to school every morning."
"I have my own car. What about your siblings?"
"They're currently taking Emmett's jeep. But next time, I'll drive you to school with your car," and he beamed, dazzling me.
He walked me to each of my classes, and by the third period, basically the whole school knew he was wooing me. So when lunch came, I was sitting with the usual bunch, but trying to blend into the wall as much as possible. Not working really, I was being bombarded with questions by Jessica and Lauren. Thank god for Diana who was trying to divert talk away from me by asking about last night's episode of American Idol.
But what Edward did next did not help. When he and his family stepped into the lunchroom, the whole school's attention was turned to them. While the rest of the Cullen's went to sit at their usual table, Edward approached me. He was clutching something behind his back.
Standing right in front of me, then got down on one knee, and from behind his back, produced a large plush-toy flower, its stem curled into a ring.
"Bella, will you be my girlfriend?"
The lunchroom erupted into loud rowdy rounds of applauses and cheering, and wolf-whistling. The only few who weren't were Mike, Jessica and Lauren. It was sweet, romantic, yet totally embarrassing. I was at a loss for words, but Diana beside me prompted, "Say 'yes.'"
So I did. "Yes, yes, I'll be your girlfriend." And I wrapped my arms around him in an embrace.
A/n: Sweet and fluffy huh? Do read and review, I don't think I could update again soon though. Also, since it's CNY, 我在此祝贺大家, 新年快乐, 万事如意, 身体健康, 心想事成, 学业进步, 步步高升, 红包要记得多多拿来. And the password of the chapter: pink silk tie.
Also, wishing everyone out there, an early Valentine's Day. Especially, if you're single, like me!