Chapter 14 – Going Slightly Mad

Edward's POV

By the time I got up in the morning, I think that I had slept all of 4 hours. I couldn't fall asleep, no matter how hard I tried. And once I did, I could only stay asleep for about fifteen minutes before I woke up again, some crazy dream jerking me from my fitful sleep. Bella was all that I could think of, and I couldn't clear her image from my mind.

Could she possibly be a… vampire? Or was it just that I was slowly going crazy?

I hummed as I got ready to go to school, rinsing out my bowl of cereal once I had finished it and getting dressed.

"When the outside temperature rises
And the meaning is oh so clear
One thousand and one yellow daffodils
Begin to dance in front of you - oh dear
Are they trying to tell you something?
You're missing that one final screw
You're simply not in the pink my dear
To be honest you haven't got a clue…"

"I'm going slightly maaaaaaaaaaaddd!" I crowed as I stepped out the door. Suddenly, I jumped back, shrieking loudly and rather femininely. Sitting in the driveway was a metallic blue Mercedes Convertible with -who else?- Bella sitting in the drivers seat. She was smirking slightly and watching me as I tried to restart my heart. After a minute I hoisted my backpack up higher on my shoulder and went around the passenger side to lean in the window.

"Hey," I said cautiously.

"Hey," Bella replied. "Would you like a ride?" That rather took me by surprise. But then again, why would she have been sitting in my driveway?

"Sure." I accepted without really thinking, opening the door and sliding in. As soon as the door had closed, I suddenly remembered what I had been thinking about before Bella's sudden appearance scattered my thoughts. That Bella could be, maybe was… a vampire. I mentally cringed away from the word and distracted myself by looking around the sleek interior of the Mercedes. The car smelled wonderful, like nothing I'd ever experienced before.

"Do you use an air freshener?" I asked, once again not thinking. I could have kicked myself for sounding so stupid. Bella laughed softly, almost snorting.

"I can't stand the things. They reek," she shook her head balefully.

"Oh. Because it smells really good in here." Could I possibly get any stupider? Bella just shrugged her shoulders, not answering me. Uh oh… I savagely hoped that the openness between us the night before wasn't already gone. Then again, now that I knew what she was… No. I shook the thought out of my head, angry with myself. You don't know that's what she really is, I told myself. Don't jump to conclusions and don't loose your head. You're going to need it if you're going to tell her that dumb ass theory of yours.

And what better time than the present? We were as alone as we were going to get for the time being and, with her speeding along so fast, we probably would only be alone for another five minutes before we reached school. My heart sped up at the bleak prospect of sharing my idea. It was almost as if Bella could hear my heartbeat, she looked at me with concern in her eyes, a slight crease forming between her eyebrows.

"So," I started, trying to keep my voice nonchalant, "can I ask you a question?"

"Heh, no." Bella laughed. I swear my heart skipped a beat when I heard that – whether it was her surprising answer or her bell-like laugher, I couldn't tell. "It's my turn to ask the questions today, remember?"

"True, true," I murmured. "What did you want to ask me?" She pondered that for a moment.

"Any new theories?"

I nearly had a heart attack. "No…" I lied. Then, seeing her face, I added, "Well… maybe, um, kryptonite?"

Once again, I was rewarded with peals of bell-like laughter.

"Stealing from comic books isn't very original, Edward."

"True. But it's rather hard to come up with an explanation for why somebody can stop a car with their bare hands, even if you have the most active of imaginations."

As soon as the words left my mouth, I saw her eyes harden and her grip tighten on the steering wheel.

"I'd rather you not mention that to anybody today, please." Her voice had a hard edge to it. I was surprised, but hid it.

"I wasn't planning to."

She seemed to relax a little at hearing that. "Thank you," she murmured.

"Certainly."

A/N: Alright, that was short and lame… but I needed to get back into the whole shindig of writing and… pretty much yeah. The next chapter will be much longer… so yeah. What did you think? Probably rather anticlimactic after the super long wait, but yeah. The next chapter will be way longer. And I'll even start on it tonight!