SONG: Muse - Time is Running Out

Chapter 13

Anger

BPOV

I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling, completely lost in thought.

I was thinking about Edward and Tanya, my face slowly morphing into a frown as I did. It was none of my business who Edward went out with, I knew, but for some reason I was bothered by it.

More than bothered in fact.

However, my thoughts soon shifted swiftly to the handsome guy who had showed up in the parking lot after school.

Jacob Black.

My frown dissipated, replaced by a smile. I had tried not to hope, tried not to believe Alice when she was going on about how he must like me. She had bombarded me with questions about him in the car – not that I knew much about him anyway – on the way home and had then squealed in excitement, telling me that he must like me, how gorgeous he was, he was a college guy and how they were so much more mature. I had simply rolled my eyes at her and said that he was probably just being polite.

But now I was thinking that maybe she was right, maybe Jacob Black was interested in me. I didn't know many guys who would come to find a girl at her school just to see if they were alright. Plus, nothing had happened to me at the party anyway, just a drunk guy pulling my arm so, of course, I was fine. Alice had said it was just an excuse for him to come and see me and I had rolled my eyes at that too.

There was also the fact that he'd had a fight with Mike Newton over me in the first place. I mean, it was a party and the place was crowded, how did he even see Mike grabbing me? And why did he even care about it, care enough to punch Mike Newton's lights out? I didn't fail to notice that his face didn't even have a scratch yet Mike's was fairly messed up.

A knock on my door startled me, causing me to snap out of my thoughts.

"Yes dad?" I called out.

"You've got a phone-call." He replied.

Alice, I thought.

"Ok, I'm picking it up now." I picked up the phone. "I got it."

I heard my dad go back downstairs and the click when he put the phone down.

"Hello?"

"Hey honey!"

I stifled a groan. It was my mom.

"Hi. Renee."

She paused, and I could almost see her face pull down in disappointment. I didn't care. Why should I call her 'mom' when she hadn't really been a mom for the past four years?

She sighed. "Bella, I wish you wouldn't call me that."

"Why not?" I retorted, "It is your name right?"

She sighed again and didn't say anything.

"So? What do you want Renee?"

"I just wanted to see how you were Bells. Is that a crime?"

"Of course not, but I was in the middle of doing something and you weren't saying anything a second ago." I was being childish I knew, but I didn't care.

"Phil and I want you to come and visit us, maybe for Spring Break."

I laughed dryly.

"Phil wants me to visit? That's a good one."

"Bella he doesn't hate you, you know. Plus, he's changed a lot since we first got married. He likes kids now, in fact we were even talking about, you know, having one of our own-"

"What?" I cut her off angrily. "You send me away, your first and only daughter; because some guy who you had known for practically five minutes basically tells you it's him or me. Then, when he snaps his fingers, suddenly wanting some kids, you turn into a baby-making machine immediately when I know that you don't want any more kids."

"Bella it's-"

"No!" I snapped. "I don't want to hear it Renee! In fact, I don't even want to hear your voice!"

I banged the phone down angrily and buried my face in the pillow.

I was sobbing for a few minutes when I heard a timid knock on my door.

"Bells?" my dad said.

I didn't reply.

"Are you ok?"

I still didn't answer; I just wanted to be alone. My dad must have sensed this and I heard him slowly retreating back down the stairs.

On Tuesday, Alice was still going on about Jacob.

"So he goes to the University of Washington?"

"Yes Alice." I said, annoyed, I'd already told her this about ten times.

"Well, why don't we pay him a visit?" she said excitedly.

"Mary-Alice!" I turned to glare at her, "No way, are we going to his College."

"Oh c'mon Bella! He surprised you, so we should do the same."

"Alice, there's no way that's happening."

She pouted, "Fine. But when he comes to find you again, make sure you get his number."

"When?" I questioned.

"He'll come back." She said confidently.

"Isabella, Mary-Alice, would you like to share your discussion with the class?" Mr Rosa asked us sarcastically in his thick French accent.

"Sorry, Mr Rosa." Alice said fluttering her lashes at him, and smiling sweetly. She had had a crush on him a few months ago and although she claimed she was over him, she still gazed at him dreamily and sighed whenever he spoke directly to her. I rolled my eyes at her.

In biology, Tanya was absent from class and Edward was there when I got to our desk. I had planned to ignore him again like yesterday but he didn't even look at me when I sat down. He was staring at nothing in particular, seemingly deep in thought, a strange expression on his face. What was wrong with him and where was Tanya?

I immediately felt a spark of hope. Maybe he and Tanya had broken up already. Maybe he had realised what a mistake it was and ended it. And the way she was all over him yesterday, maybe she was embarrassed and didn't want to show her face in school today.

"So, you will be working in groups or pairs. You will work with the person or people sitting next to you." Mr Banner's voice interrupted.

Jessica Stanley raised her hand.

"But sir, Tanya is excused from class today because there's a dress rehearsal for the school play."

"Yes, I am aware of that Jessica." Mr Banner replied, "You will start the assignment on your own today and continue working on it with Tanya when she returns to class tomorrow."

Wait, what? I thought. What assignment was he talking about, and I would have to work with the person next to me? I would have to work with Edward? I also realised, with dismay that Tanya was in school and was just in drama rehearsal.

But Edward was still acting strange.

I would have to work with him. That meant that I would have to talk to him. And possibly have to work outside of school with him on this assignment. And although I was totally disgusted at him for sleeping with and dating Tanya, I couldn't help the butterflies suddenly fluttering about in my stomach.

He turned to look at me for the first time since I'd sat down and the emotions in his startling hazel eyes shocked me.

There was pain, worry, sadness and even guilt in them. What was wrong with him? Surely even if he had broken up with Tanya, he wouldn't have been that torn up about it.

His eyebrows rose, "So... should I get the equipment or do you want to?"

My face flamed, as I realised that he had been saying something to me while I was contemplating what was going on with him. I must have been staring at him like a complete idiot.

"Um, ok. I mean, I'll get it." I stuttered. I wished I hadn't put my hair up in a ponytail again; I couldn't cover my face now at all.

I hurried over to the front of the class and slowly picked up the equipment laid out on the front desk. Whilst there I also scanned the board, quickly reading what we had to do for the assignment. It was relatively easy. There were various cells, skin, cheek and blood, trapped between two thin sheets of glass, we had to observe them and make notes on the various stages of cell division they were at. We would be observing them over a few days, noting down all the changes, and then we had to write an essay about it, explaining what we had found out. I chose skin cells and made my way back and put the stuff on our desk.

"I'll take a look at it first; then write down what stage I think it's at. You can start drawing out the chart." Edward instructed.

This annoyed the heck out of me. Why was he telling me what to do?

"No, you draw out the chart and I'll take a look." I dragged the microscope over to my side before he could protest.

He glared at me, eyes slightly narrowed but he didn't say anything.

We were both silent for a while as I looked at the cells and made notes and he drew out a chart with his ruler. After he had finished drawing he sat there, frowning, waiting for me.

"Are you finished yet?" he finally asked impatiently.

"Yeah." I replied.

He took the microscope, surprisingly lifting the heavy thing with one hand and I got a whiff of that gorgeous scent again. I desperately wanted to inhale deeply but fought the urge.

We continued like that for the duration of the class, only speaking when we had to. When the bell rung I felt relieved, the tension between us slowly dissolving. He gathered the equipment up and took it back to the front desk, leaving the cells. He came back to our desk as I was gathering up my notes.

"Do you want to keep the cells with you or should I?" He asked gruffly.

"No, you can keep it." I said curtly.

I brushed past him and went out of the class, my heart pounding frantically against my chest.

At lunch, Tanya was back.

She was in her costume from the drama production and unsurprisingly, she was all over Edward again. I glanced at Edward a few times despite of myself and saw that, once again his brow was puckered, as he stared into space, deep in thought. He didn't even seem to notice Tanya. Rosalie – who was also in costume – and Jasper were shooting him sympathetic glances. I was really curious now.

What was up with him?

Maybe Alice would have found out something from Jasper. I decided to ask her after school.

As Alice and I walked to the parking lot after school I was still thinking about what could be wrong with Edward when she suddenly froze and grabbed my arm.

"Oh my God, Bella he's back! I told you he would be!" She hissed.

I was confused for a second – and then I saw him.

Jacob was in the same place as yesterday, leaning against his bike. He was wearing black Jeans today and a navy blue sweater with some black Nike sneakers. The leather jacket he wore yesterday lay on his bike next to his helmet.

He was receiving a lot of stares and if he noticed them, he didn't show it.

He smiled widely at me when I walked over to him – Alice right on my heels.

"Hi Bella, Bella's friend."

"Hi Jacob." I said; smiling back as my face flushed. Alice nudged me. "This is Alice. Alice, Jacob."

Alice beamed. "Hi Jacob."

Jacob smiled back at her.

"Don't worry I'm not going to show up at your school every day." He laughed nervously, "I just came by because...well...I forgot to ask you for your number yesterday. Would you mind if I took it?"

He gazed at me intently.

I was pretty sure I looked like a tomato at that second.

"Um, sure."

He took out his cell phone and handed it to me. I put my number in it and handed it back.

"Can I call you tonight?" he asked

"Sure." I repeated.

"Ok." He smiled again – I realised he did that a lot – "I've got to go now though, I've got a ton of work to do. I'll call you tonight ok Bella. It was nice to see you again and it was nice to meet you Alice."

He put on his jacket and helmet and once again sped out of the parking lot.

I was staring at the direction he had disappeared in when I felt Alice bouncing up and down.

"You see Bella! I knew it! I fucking knew it! He is soooo totally into you. It's like obvious! I want to hear every detail about the phone call you hear me?"

I sighed. "Whatever Al."

I looked around the parking lot to find people now staring at me. I saw Jessica Stanley not too far away, mouth hanging open in shock; she had obviously heard the exchange between me and Jacob.

Perfect. Now the whole school would probably be talking by tomorrow.

As I looked around, I also spotted Edward. My eyes locked with his for a second and I quickly looked away, surprised, my face going scarlet once again. The expression on his face was what surprised me.

He was glowering at me; his eyebrows furrowed deeply, his eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched tightly.

He looked absolutely....furious.

Author's Note:

Review? Also, I realised that my chapters are pretty short compared to other fanfics I've read so I'm gonna try and make them longer.

Savannah-Vee