"Bella! My God, you look awful!" Ari said, entering the nurse's office.
"Thanks, Ari." I muttered without much heat; I had just experienced a fit of dizziness from hell, no thanks to the fact Edward was nearby. That was quite liable to make any girl short of breath, and, boy, was it working on me.
My twin dug around in her pocket and pulled out a bandana, then knelt in front of me and proceeded to wipe the cold sweat from my face. She shook her head and said, "I knew I'd be needing this thing. You're hopeless."
I didn't respond, keeping my jaw clenched tight over a wave of nausea. Ari said to Edward, "Thank you for bringing her down. We haven't been introduced yet, Edward, but Jasper told me about you. I'm Bella's sister, Ari."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." he said stiffly, surprised by her talkativeness.
"Right back at you. And since you seem like a nice guy, I'll trust you with Bella, because I have to get back to class soon. Okay?" Ari continued cheerfully.
My sister was officially nuts. It was a wonder Edward even paid her any mind, honestly. This was one of those moments where I kind of wanted to kill her but also kind of wanted to keep her alive to figure out what the hell was going on. I groaned, "Ari, what on earth are you babbling about? What are you doing here, anyway? You didn't skip class to check on me, did you?"
"Of course not, silly. I found an excuse." She waved a note in my face. "I have to drop this off. You keep this-" she commanded, putting the bandana in my hand, "-and have a good rest of the day. I won't be back at dinner, I'm hanging out with some friends this afternoon, but I'll be home at nine thirteen. I'll bring your truck home."
"Huh? Wait, Ari, what do you mean?" I asked, trying to stand up.
She pushed me back in the chair and winked mysteriously, then skipped over to Ms. Cope and handed her the note. After that, she danced out of the office, leaving Edward and I to stare after her, dumbstruck.
Okay, my brain operates pretty well on a regular day. It only gets downsized slightly when I don't feel good. But I can honestly say, in all seriousness, that after that particular conversation with my sister, with the way I was feeling at that moment, my brain had shrunk to about single-molecule size.
After a moment, Edward frowned, shaking his head. "Your sister is. . ."
"Weird?" I supplied.
"A bit. No offense." he amended.
"None taken. She's like that a lot. Wonder what she was talking about." I wondered aloud, then fell silent, pondering possible explanations for that very odd chunk of dialogue between my sister and myself.
After a moment, Edward said hesitantly, "Is she a psychic or something? She seemed to know what you were going to do. . . or something."
"Yeah, she is. She's been able to sort of. . . see the future since we were kids. But don't spread it around or anything, okay?" I whispered to him, worried. Not that he was a gossip-I was pretty much one hundred percent on that-but you never do know about people, especially people as interesting as Edward Cullen. Plus, if he couldn't accept my sister, then I wasn't sure I even wanted to spend time with him. Ari was too important to me for that.
"I won't." he promised earnestly. And I fell just a little bit harder for him.
"Thanks, Ari." I muttered without much heat; I had just experienced a fit of dizziness from hell, no thanks to the fact Edward was nearby. That was quite liable to make any girl short of breath, and, boy, was it working on me.
My twin dug around in her pocket and pulled out a bandana, then knelt in front of me and proceeded to wipe the cold sweat from my face. She shook her head and said, "I knew I'd be needing this thing. You're hopeless."
I didn't respond, keeping my jaw clenched tight over a wave of nausea. Ari said to Edward, "Thank you for bringing her down. We haven't been introduced yet, Edward, but Jasper told me about you. I'm Bella's sister, Ari."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." he said stiffly, surprised by her talkativeness.
"Right back at you. And since you seem like a nice guy, I'll trust you with Bella, because I have to get back to class soon. Okay?" Ari continued cheerfully.
My sister was officially nuts. It was a wonder Edward even paid her any mind, honestly. This was one of those moments where I kind of wanted to kill her but also kind of wanted to keep her alive to figure out what the hell was going on. I groaned, "Ari, what on earth are you babbling about? What are you doing here, anyway? You didn't skip class to check on me, did you?"
"Of course not, silly. I found an excuse." She waved a note in my face. "I have to drop this off. You keep this-" she commanded, putting the bandana in my hand, "-and have a good rest of the day. I won't be back at dinner, I'm hanging out with some friends this afternoon, but I'll be home at nine thirteen. I'll bring your truck home."
"Huh? Wait, Ari, what do you mean?" I asked, trying to stand up.
She pushed me back in the chair and winked mysteriously, then skipped over to Ms. Cope and handed her the note. After that, she danced out of the office, leaving Edward and I to stare after her, dumbstruck.
Okay, my brain operates pretty well on a regular day. It only gets downsized slightly when I don't feel good. But I can honestly say, in all seriousness, that after that particular conversation with my sister, with the way I was feeling at that moment, my brain had shrunk to about single-molecule size.
After a moment, Edward frowned, shaking his head. "Your sister is. . ."
"Weird?" I supplied.
"A bit. No offense." he amended.
"None taken. She's like that a lot. Wonder what she was talking about." I wondered aloud, then fell silent, pondering possible explanations for that very odd chunk of dialogue between my sister and myself.
After a moment, Edward said hesitantly, "Is she a psychic or something? She seemed to know what you were going to do. . . or something."
"Yeah, she is. She's been able to sort of. . . see the future since we were kids. But don't spread it around or anything, okay?" I whispered to him, worried. Not that he was a gossip-I was pretty much one hundred percent on that-but you never do know about people, especially people as interesting as Edward Cullen. Plus, if he couldn't accept my sister, then I wasn't sure I even wanted to spend time with him. Ari was too important to me for that.
"I won't." he promised earnestly. And I fell just a little bit harder for him.