Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.
My friend Declan: That's what she said!
Me: Declan, speaking as a concerned friend, you are an immature idiot.
(Declan, I hope your reading this. You can't use that in every sentence.)
Chapter Five- Bella's POV (still thirteen, almost fourteen)
I woke up a week later because the sun shining into my eyes.
I bolted upright and stared at the old window. I slowly pulled the covers off, stepping carefully up to it. I emphasized each step, to make sure this wasn't a dream. But, even with my constant pinching, I knew that I was awake.
The sun was shining? In Forks?
Maybe that was a good luck sign, or maybe it was the beginning of the end, and the apocalypse was starting.
I might be being a little overdramatic…
I yanked the window open, it was much easier to do from all the times Edward had used it, and leaned my head out while basking in the glory of sunlight. This must be good luck.
But it couldn't be. Today was one of the few days where Edward and I wouldn't be together for the whole day. He was at a piano lesson and wouldn't be home until four o'clock.
-- Two in the Afternoon, Hanging With Emmet --
"Whoa Bells, watch out." Emmet laughed, catching me as I stumbled on an upturned rug corner.
"I blame the carpet," I accused, glaring at it, "Loot at it, with its beady little eyes and its flower patterns."
He just laughed harder while leading me down to the basement, where his bedroom now was.
"Guess what?" he asked me.
"Umm?"
"I'm almost sixteen!"
I just stared.
"Thanks for pointing that out. I would have figured that you'd be turning seventeen, you know, the year after your fifteenth birthday." I retorted with heavy sarcasm.
"Are we feeling a little sarcastic today?"
I stuck out my tongue, to which he just chuckled.
"So, what about you being almost sixteen?"
"I can almost drive."
"Congratulations. I'll be sure to stay off the sidewalks."
"You laugh now, but just wait until I really can drive."
"You'll fail your first test," I laughed.
He pouted, then his face lit up with an idea. Uh-oh.
"Five bucks says I get my license before Edward."
"That's a year and a half advantage!" I started, but then I paused to consider it, "Deal."
We both laughed, then shook on it. I didn't normally make bets with Emmet, but it was only five dollars and I could have endless taunting privileges if I actually won.
We ended up playing foosball for the next twenty minutes, until I got bored ad started playing with Emmet's cell phone.
"Thirsty?" he asked, getting up from his game.
"No, thanks," I called as he climbed the stairs to get a drink.
Suddenly, the game of Tetris I had been playing disappeared form the phone's little screen and a 'new message' sign came up.
Not sure what to do, I pressed the enter key and up came a window that said 'message inbox/outbox'. I scrolled down, trying to get out of it, when I noticed a text from a girl named Rosalie. Edward had told me that Rosalie was a girl from Emmet's high school that he liked. I laughed, and pressed more buttons until it opened up.
"Hey, Tanya wants me to ask Edward out for her"
My body stiffened and I rushed to read more, clicking the 'down' key until Emmet's reply popped up.
"Edward's a year younger than her!" He defended his brother
"She thinks he's cute"
That's an understatement…
"He's kind of taken"
"By that Bella girl? They see each other once a year; I don't think that counts a dating"
I froze. Did Edward think so? I knew we had always been best friends… My hand went right to the necklace and I wondered if Edward still meant what he had said all those years ago.
"Yeah, but he likes her. Knowing him, he'd consider it cheating or something"
"C'mon, Tanya's my friend"
"Edward's my brother"
"So he's never going to date anyone because he's waiting for a girl who not only sees him once a year, but probably doesn't like him back?"
I couldn't read anymore after that. She was right. I only saw him once a year. I could never be a real girlfriend. I couldn't walk to all his classes with him, I couldn't go out with him every Friday, and I couldn't even see him for more than a month every year. I lived in Phoenix. He was in Forks.
Was I stopping him from having a normal teenage life?
I was his friend to hang out with at summer. That was it, wasn't it?
I heard Emmet's loud footsteps coming back down the stairs so I quickly tossed the phone onto his bed and tried to forget about what I just read. I shouldn't get so worked up about a text message.
But I couldn't help it. The questions were swimming around in my head, each in a different form, but each with the same point.
Was I holding Edward back?
-- Forks High School, Picking Up Edward --
I decided to pick Edward up, just to see him again. His lessons were at the High School, like most of the recreational activities in Forks.
As I trudged through the streets, my mind kept wandering back to the text.
Never going to date anyone. Once a year. Doesn't like him back.
The words echoed in my head, vibrating in my ears.
Once a year.
It was eating away at me. I couldn't stand this. I was hurting Edward, even if he wasn't aware of it. As I approached the parking lot, where I was told to wait for him, I saw another girl there. She was a bit taller than me with bouncy, dark brown locks of hair curling around her face in the light wind. She was sitting on a bench near the doors, looking at herself in a pocket mirror.
My attention was brought to the ext as I watched Edward step into the cold.
The girl got up and strutted over to him. Neither of them had noticed me yet, so I decided to wait and see what the girl wanted.
"Edward!" she called, stopping in front of him.
"Jessica," he nodded politely.
He tried to walk around her but she grabbed his arm, blocking him from escape.
"Yes?" he asked, a little impatiently.
"Can I walk you home?" she offered, batting her eyelashes.
"Jessica, we've been through this. I'm just not interested in dating right now." He sighed, looking exasperated, and gently removed her hand from his arm.
"This isn't a date; I just want to walk with you." She tried again, clasping her hands at her hips to make her chest stick out.
He obviously noticed, but continued walking away after assuring her he'd see her at school in the spring.
"Okay, I'll be waiting!" she called, waving enthusiastically.
Edward spotted me then and waved me over.
Trying to contemplate what I had just witnessed, I began to walk towards him when I felt something hard and solid collide with my shin. I fell to the hard, wet ground and watched as he came jogging over to help me up.
"Bella! Are you alright?" he asked, picking my up and balancing me on my feet.
"Yeah, I just caught my leg on the parking curb…" I mumbled as colour flooded my face.
"What am I going to do with you?" he laughed, hooking his arm through mine and heading back towards his house.
"What can you do? I live in Phoenix," I muttered, much too low for him to hear me.
-- That Night, Bella's Room --
It was true.
I lay there, fully clothed, on my bed. It was probably the early hours of morning by now. I wasn't sure. I didn't care. I had lain down there, lost in my thoughts, when it was still light out. Slowly, the faint daylight had turned to a cloudy night. By now, it was probably a cloudy morning. Not that it mattered.
Rosalie had been right. Edward wasn't going to date anyone, all because some girl he liked wasn't around to date.
Jessica had been pretty. She had flirted shamelessly, flaunting everything she could, but he refused to even walk with her.
I was keeping Edward from dating. He couldn't date me, I was never here. He refused to date others, I was too important to him.
I raised my hands up to the hollow of my throat, where the miniature heart rested. I pulled it up so it was level with my eyes.
Edward was the most important person in the world to me. There was no way I would let him go through high school without dating. I wouldn't hold him from that.
I was going to make the best of this summer. Next year, no matter how much it tore me apart, I wouldn't be back.
A/N: Can we say overreaction? I was trying to get Bella to embrace her martyr-ness. What do you think? GASP! Lol, before you get too upset, this is a happy story. Even in The Little Mermaid, there were sad parts. But in The Little Mermaid, the sad lasted for like twenty minutes…Bah, I'm making you wait for the next update! .
Reviews help me write faster, you all know that - They also make me smile… a lot. xD