stay right here, rocketeer
chapter two
"She isn't affected by any of our powers!" Alice said.
"She looks different," Emmett said. "I can't explain it, she just is."
"And her blood smells revolting," I said. "Terrible and terrific, simultaneously."
We were seated around the dining room table explaining to Carlisle and Esme our findings regarding the potentially nonhuman, freak of nature, mindfuck supreme, Bella Swan. With Carlisle sitting at the head of the table and the rest of us engaged in conversation, this was one of the only times we have ever used this mahogany piece of furniture.
Carlisle held up his hands to halt our ramblings and speculations regarding Bella. "I'm sure there is some explanation for Isabella's oddity. I have known Charlie for a long time and I can assure you that Charlie is 100% human. There is no way his daughter is any different."
"But she is not normal," Rosalie argued. "I know we sound crazy, but if you had seen her, you would understand. She doesn't appear strikingly unusual. There is this strange aura about her, though, that puts her apart from the rest."
"Don't you think Charlie would know if he had some strange creature as a daughter?" Carlisle reasoned. He wasn't buying this at all.
"Well Charlie doesn't exactly know what we are either," Jasper replied. "Perhaps he's just very nice to everyone, human or nonhuman alike."
Esme spoke for the first time, "You mean, there are actually other creatures out there?"
She did have a point. Besides werewolves, we have never encountered any other species of mythological creatures. Vampires have walked amongst humanity for millennia and werewolves are our sworn enemy. Other fairytale creatures are exactly that: fairytales. There can't possibly be truth behind every once-upon-a-time.
"In all my three hundred years, I have never learned of the existence of any other creatures. Of course, I was curious. I thought, if vampires were real, then surely wizards and elves and zombies must be real too. My research never amounted to anything and I soon gave up on that subject. They're all make-believe characters. Either that, or they're much better at hiding than we are," Carlisle stated. He sounded undoubtedly certain, yet for a second, I saw a glimpse of an old, worn book with a golden border in Carlisle's mind before he focused on the conversation again.
"So…Isabella won't be a threat to us?" Jasper asked.
Alice giggled. "I guess we are just being silly. So our powers don't work on Isabella. It's not the end of the world."
"Precisely." Carlisle nodded and stood up, signaling the end of the conversation. "Isabella is not a mermaid or a centaur or a witch. She is just a teenage girl."
"Bella," I corrected.
Everyone looked at me.
"She likes to be called Bella," I explained.
After that, the subject was dropped and we left the dining room feeling quite foolish indeed about ourselves. Alice stared at me inquisitively as I headed upstairs to my room.
"'Bella. She likes to be called Bella.' What was that, Edward?"she asked.
"It's true," I said. "She does like to be called Bella. She told me."
Alice's right eyebrow flew up. Is that so? In her mind, she imagined Bella and me walking down the school hallways hand in hand, laughing for the world to see..
I rolled my eyes and walked passed her, purposely bumping her shoulder. "God Alice, so I mention one girl's name and you think I have a crush on her? What next, are you going to start planning our wedding?"
"OOOH! Can I?" Her eyes widened to the size of watermelons, she batted her thick eyelashes, and her lower lip curled into the puppy-face pout of doom.
"You're unbelievable, Alice. You're like the annoying little sister I never had," I complained.
She sprinted ahead of me and blocked my path. She tilted her head and smiled maniacally. "Oh but, Edward, I am the annoying little sister you never had."
I know I was just a little anxious for school the next day. Checking the thoughts around me as my siblings exited the car, I was glad that I wasn't the only one. After Carlisle shot us down yesterday evening, making our outlandish exclamations sound like pure nonsense, we were all wishing for a second look at Bella. Were we mistaken? Could she really just be another girl, who happened to have intense body odor?
The hours passed, eventually. I walked to the cafeteria in a breakneck pace and found myself scanning the entire lunch room before sitting down next to Alice.
"Don't strain yourself, she's not here yet," Alice said, looking at me in that cryptic I know what's going on way.
I just shook my head because she was being ridiculous again. Ridiculous Alice and her ridiculous speculation on nonexistent romantic feelings towards stinky girls.
"Is Bella in any of your classes before lunch?" Emmett asked.
We all shook our heads no.
"The only one who even has a class with her is Edward," Alice announced, giving me a smirk.
"Oh yeah," Jasper smiled, jumping on board Alice's ridiculous train, "that's how he knows she likes to be called Bella, remember?"
Now Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice were all staring at me with mocking smiles. Edward and Bella sitting in a tree…
I groaned and put my elbows on the table, resting my head in my hands. "I don't like Bella. I've only known her for one day! It's not like we could form any relationship anyway, since being around her makes my nose sting like no other and I feel like I'm burning. And vampires and humans can't possibly be together because that would—"
"We KNOW," Emmett interrupted and laughed. "We're just teasing you. Lighten up, bro."
Alice leaned forward until her face was a few inches from mine. "But why are you so nervous and tense, Edward? Could it be that you actually do like Bella?"
They all snickered and I sat back in my chair, not amused. Sure, pick on the single guy. That's fair.
"I am never sharing anything with you guys ever again," I deadpanned. They roared with laughter.
In the meantime, I watched Jessica and Angela take a seat and immediately join in on Mike and Eric's debate. Bella's chair remained empty.
"Where's Bella?" Mike asked.
"I don't know, she wasn't here this morning," Jessica said.
Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice collectively sighed, slouching in their seats. They could mock me all they want, but I heard their thoughts. They were just as disappointed as I was that the fascinating kinda-more-than-human girl was absent.
A day's absence was perfectly normal. Two days were understandable. When Bella still didn't show up on the third day, I began to worry. I had no reason to, of course, because there could be a rational explanation to her prolonged absence. She got sick; she wasn't used to the cold. She only came that one day to test out Forks High and now she was back in Phoenix to pack the last of her bags and move here officially. Or she absolutely detested Forks and ran back home the first chance she could and I will never see her again.
Still, all those explanations seemed much more plausible than my hypothesis. Although it seemed irrelevant at the time, as I sat in Biology and stared at the empty seat beside me, I started to wonder if Bella's ditching school had anything to do with the emotional outburst at the end of class on Monday. I vividly remember pointing out her necklace and asking her about it, and then suddenly she's glaring at me like I had murdered her family.
Why did she get so upset? What is so special about the pendant? Why did her freckles turn purple?
Who is Bella Swan?
The weekend was dull, although I had no reason to expect otherwise. Alice and Jasper were making out in their room so I moved down the hall to escape all the gooey, lovey thoughts they were emitting. As I passed Carlisle's office, I glanced in the open doorway to see him sitting at his desk, deep in thought.
His thoughts were mainly comprised of short sentence fragments in a language I wasn't familiar with. I believe it was Scottish or perhaps Welsh. His train of thoughts was going too fast for me to translate the words into understandable English. Then that image of the old book with golden borders came up again, just like that night we were talking about Bella.
"Carlisle?" I called softly.
He looked up, unaware of my presence. "Yes Edward?" He knew that I knew something was up.
I implored him with my eyes, wondering what it was the he was hiding from us.
Please to don't pry, Edward.
Reluctantly, I nodded and walked downstairs. Carlisle was hiding a secret. But I trusted him . Whatever he had in confidentiality must be important and he would share with the rest of us when the time was appropriate.
What ancient texts and Scottish had to do with anything, I had not a clue.
The second I pulled into the parking spot next Monday morning, Alice turned to me from the passenger seat and exclaimed excitedly, "Bella's back!"
"I thought you couldn't see her in your visions," I said.
Alice only pointed out the window. To my surprise, there was Bella in all her glory, hopping out of her old red truck. She closed the door, locked the car, pulled her navy blue scarf closer, and began her trek indoors.
"What are you still doing sitting there, Romeo?" Jasper said. "Go after her!"
I glowered at him through the rearview mirror. We all gathered up our bags and exited my Volvo.
Rosalie's laugh sounded crisp in the cold air. "Don't be absurd now, Jasper. Edward doesn't want to look desperate."
Glad that I was still the butt of their childish joke, I walked away towards my first class as the first snowflakes drifted down from the sky. In the distance, I watched Bella open the door to her classroom and enter it. And as I breathed in the fresh winter air, I could vaguely smell traces of her nauseating and floral scent.
I was one of the first students in Biology, as usual. The few others in the class were all riled up because it was snowing outside. Everyone was talking about forming teams, choosing the best hideout, and plotting to become the snow fight champions of the day. This is all certainly juvenile, but hey, I like a good snow ball fight too.
The smell of Bella entered the room long before she did. Since I braced myself for it this time, the initial attack of my olfactory sense was not as brutal as last week. I inhaled deeply and let the burning sensation travel from my nose to my throat, down my neck, and spread throughout my body. I figured if I got over the pain sooner, I could act more civil and less anguished around Bella.
When she finally stepped into the classroom, the scent quadrupled in strength and I willed myself to be numbed by the pain. She stared at me and hesitated for a moment before slowly approaching our table. I meekly nodded towards her, my head swimming in the atrocious yet beautiful smell, and I was quite unable to form a coherent sentence.
She sat down and fixed her scarf tighter around her neck.
The bell rang and Mr. Banner began class, telling us something about a microscope lab and identifying the cycles of mitosis in onion cells. Although, at the time, I wasn't processing any words that left Mr. Banner's mouth; Bella's proximity was hazardously intoxicating. My mind was all hazy and only one thought ran through my mind: THIS HURTS THIS HURTS THIS HURTS MAKE IT STOP.
Only after Mr. Banner set us off to begin on the labs did I finally adjust to Bella's stench. My mind cleared and I quickly read Mike Newton's thoughts to clue myself in on what we were supposed to do. I intended to grab the microscope and put the slide on the stage, but I discovered my arms couldn't exactly, well, move. My muscles had become anesthetized from Bella's presence too. I was disadvantageously immobilized. Fantastic.
Maybe I was imagining it, but I thought I saw a small grin form on Bella's face as she set up the microscope and peered down the lens.
"Anaphase." She hadn't looked at the slide for a full second before she correctly identified it. My eyes could see the slide from here perfectly, but how did she possibly analyze the onion cell that quickly?
"Mind if I check?" I asked. Thank god my voice didn't hint how distressed I was by cracking like a pubescent boy.
She turned and gave me a sassy look, freckles sparkling, but pushed the microscope towards me nonetheless. I reached for it, my right arm moving at an embarrassingly slow pace. Then, my half-numb pinky made the gargantuan mistake of accidently brushing against hers. The microsecond our skin made contact, the entire right side of my body flared up in unbelievable, excruciating pain. The throbbing was 100 times worse than the comparatively minute ache her scent caused. Just sitting next to her was already hard for me to handle. But Bella's touch could give Jane from the Volturi a run for her money.
Stifling my dying urge to scream out in pain, I immediately withdrew my hand, desperately hoping I could run outside and bury myself in the fresh snow or something. I was burning, on brink of explosion.
"Did you want to look?" Bella asked. She was either completely oblivious to my inner agony or mocking me by her indifferent tone.
I shook my head. "No, actually, I think I'll take your word for it," I managed to choke out.
For the rest of the lab, Bella worked the microscope, calling out the correct phase names much too quickly while I wrote them down on the paper. Once, I thought she called the name before her eyes even hit the lens.
We were easily the first group finished. Everyone else was still debating number 3. Mr. Banner made his way over to us. He checked our work, clearly impressed that we identified them all correctly.
"Have you done this lab before, Ms. Swan?" he asked.
"Yeah, I have," she answered sheepishly.
"I see. Well, I guess you two have the rest of the period to yourselves then," he said.
A whole, uninterrupted twenty minutes with Bella Swan.
Kill me now.
She adjusted a piece of her hair and I was hit by another wave of her stench. But on the bright side, the right side of my body was starting to recover from that tiny touch. I made up mind then and there that I would talk to Mr. Banner and make him switch my seat. Anyone, anyone, made for a better lab partner than Bella. Let her be with Mike, he likes the girl. Just give me a normal person to sit next to so I won't have to endure this torture every day, please.
"So…" Bella said, fixing her eyes on me.
"Where were you last week?" I asked. If we had to talk, I might as well get some questions answered. Since her mind was blocked from mine, I had to get my answers the hard way.
"I, uh, got sick. I wasn't used to the cold," she said. Her freckles darkened.
I called her bluff. "Well that must suck for you."
"What?"
"You moved to the town with the most rainfall in the continental US."
She stared out the window. "Yeah. I hate rain. And snow. And water in general."
"Why?"
She lowered her voice yet I still heard every word. "…it reminds me of my failure."
Failure? What failure involves water? She doesn't know how to swim? Can this girl get a little more cryptic, please?
Just as I was about to question her, she changed the subject, "So I guess my dad knows your dad?"
I nodded. "Yes. Charlie and Carlisle are great friends."
The indifferent façade she's had this whole time was forgotten as her eyes brightened with interest. "You call your dad by his first name too?"
"All my brothers and sisters do. It's easier, since we were adopted at an older age. And besides, Carlisle and Esme are quite young, they would feel old if we referred to them as Mom and Dad. Why do you call your father Charlie?"
"Well, I never knew him. I've lived with my mother all my life and Charlie is as much a stranger to me as you are."
Ever since Bella arrived, people have been retelling the mystery of Charlie's infamous scandal seventeen years ago that resulted in Bella. No one knew what happened to Bella's mom, or why Bella suddenly came here to Forks in the first place. "Why are you living with Charlie now?"
Suddenly aware that this conversation was diving deep into a topic she was uncomfortable with, she stopped talking. Her eyes clouded over and her emotionless mask was put back on.
We sat in silence for a few minutes. The class around us continued in their lab. Outside, I heard the patter of the down falling rain.
"If it makes you feel any better, it's raining outside which will probably wash away the snow, which means you won't be caught in the most epic snowball fight of Forks High history," I said.
She continued to blankly stare straight ahead. But she smiled.
The bell rang and everyone scrambled to finish their lab and put away the equipment. After I gathered my bag, I turned to find Bella standing and gazing at me, her eyes not glaring or feigning indifference, but in wonder.
"You're not that bad, Edward," she said. It was a compliment, I guess, but it also rang of an underhand criticism since she implied she expected me to be bad.
I watched her raise her hand, form a fist, and reach for me. With sheer terror, I realized she was going for a knuckle bump. I should have booked it out of there while I had the chance. Now I'm stuck because I can't leave her hanging, that's not gentleman-like.
Wincing before I even touched her, I gently tapped my knuckles against hers, drawing back after the slightest contact. My whole arm erupted in pain.
She turned on her heels and walked off. "See you tomorrow."
post script: thanks for reading, guys. i swear the story gets better, i have lots of exciting stuff planned out. next chapter up soon!