"Bella, phone!" My father, Charlie Swan, Police department chief, shouted. I dashed down the stairs to grab the phone, hoping it might be Mike to cancel our afternoon movie plans. I wasn't really in the mood to go see some gushy romance film or a blood-filled action flick.
"Hello?" I said, catching my breath.
"Hello, Bella." A calm, soft voice said. I froze. It was Edward. He was calling me. But, how did he get my phone number?
"Oh, hey Edward. What's up? How did you get my phone number?" I tried to hide the excitement in my voice so that he wouldn't get the wrong idea if he wasn't into me.
"I stole Mike Newton's notebook. It was written on every page in there." He said, and I heard a smile in his tone. "Actually, I was wondering…are you busy at all today?"
"Um…just a minute, ok?" I said, trying desperately now, to calm the bubble of excitement.
"That's fine." He said, casually. I set the phone on the desk and ran into the kitchen. I screamed as loud as I could.
"What's wrong, Bells?" My father walked into the kitchen, concern in his eyes.
"Oh, uh, nothing, Dad. I just stubbed my toe," I said quickly, though the look in his eyes told me he didn't believe me. I ran back to the hallway and picked up the phone.
"I'm back," I said, breathless from my scream.
"I'm glad. So, are you busy?" He asked again. I didn't know really what to say. I had been planning for a couple of days now that at some point, I would ask Edward out. Though, I never really thought of what I'd say if he asked me. I didn't know if I should tell him I already have plans, and then crush my chances with him forever, or tell him I was free and lie to Mike, my boyfriend. I also had never really though of the word cheat. I mean, Mike trusted me, and, we weren't really going on a date. We could just be two friends hanging out. It wouldn't really be considered as me cheating on him. But, I did still have plans with Mike.
"Um…" I didn't know what to say. There were two choices. Lie to Mike, or go out with Mike. "Nope, I'm not busy. Do you want to go out somewhere?" Oops. Too late to go back now, I already said I wasn't busy. I really wanted to go out with Edward, though. I would just have to suck it up and lie to Mike. I would tell him I was sick, that I caught a flu that Charlie had. That's it; I'll tell him I'm sick.
"Great! I was thinking maybe we could go out for dinner. How does Port Angeles sound?" He said, enthusiastically.
"It sounds really great, Edward." I tried to sound hopeful, but I was a little worried about the Mike side of the deal.
"I'll pick you up at six-thirty then?"
"Sure, ok. See you later."
"Bye, Bella."
I put the phone back onto the receiver. I was a bit angry with myself right now. "Am I stupid?" I asked myself. I couldn't ruin mine and Mike's relationship over one gorgeous boy that I hardly knew. I picked the receiver up again to dial Mike's number. It didn't even ring fully one time before someone answered.
"Hello?" It was Mike. Dang. If his mom answered it would have been slightly easier. Now I have to tell him directly.
"Hey, Mike," I said, trying to sound enthusiastic. "About our date tonight…"
"Yeah, Bells, I was just going to call you about that," He said, sounding a little glum. "I have to cancel. I'm really sorry. I have to help my mom with this thing at church, but we can definitely go out next weekend, okay?" He sounded hopeful.
"Okay, I forgive you," I said. Yes! Now I didn't have to lie to him. This made me feel a lot better.
"Thanks. So, what were you saying about our date?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing, I was just going to say that I can't wait." I lied.
"Oh. I'm real sorry, Bells." He said, and I knew that he meant it.
"It's fine, Mike, really. I know you need to help you mom out, it's ok." I said, forgiving him.
"Okay, well I have to go, I love you." He said.
"Me too, bye." Then he hung up. This was weird. I was so excited that I didn't have to lie to Mike that I completely missed this. Mike never canceled on me, ever. Not once in the year that we'd been dating did he call me and say, "I have to help my mom at church." If there was something else going on, he would simply invite me to come, or he'd get out of doing it.