Hi. I've posted this whole chapter again since I needed to change some of the formats.
Dusk and Dawn: Chapter 6
Breakthroughs
EPOV
Bella's face was radiant as she looked at me. The image of her hardly escaped my mind.
"I", she began, but the right words seemed to disappear. "Yes." She smiled at me, which had already answered that question in my head. There was no need for words; it seemed like Bella knew that it would mean several things to me. I was elated inside; I felt a burst of felicity. It was a great relief that I finally spoke to her about it. For a second, I thought I would be rejected, but it was worth the try.
My first sight of her was at the train, when I first went to Alice's room.
The first time we shook hands.
And who would forget the time when we were by the pond this morning.
All the memories I had were only a few, but the emotions were already unmanageable.
"What's 'yes'", I asked. I wanted her to tell me even more than a simple answer.
"I could have told you the same thing, but you beat me to it", she mused, making me laugh as well.
A tall, thin professor entered the room. Mr. Strauss, his name read on the white board.
Bella was taking notes into her blue notebook—patiently listening to the discussion Mr. Wilson made. Her legible and beautiful handwriting stood out and filled the white pages of her notebook. Her face was hidden behind a mass of hair which was shinier today.
Her eyes met my gaze as her smile met my dazzled expression. I blinked my eyes before breaking my daze.
"What?" she asked, and smiling at me.
"Nothing, I'm just relieved that I've finally told you that." I wanted to hold her hand but the pen had it occupied. She just smiled at me and went back to looking at the whiteboard and jotting down notes.
"Alice is going to ambush you once she finds out." I wasn't sure about it, but I've been asking Alice things about Bella. I just wished that she could keep her mouth closed for a few moments. Maybe she's already told Bella, who might be thinking that I'm a stalker.
"You don't want your sister to know?"
"I'm guessing you're not expecting how she might react." I could. I could well imagine Alice bothering Bella and me with all her irritating questions. Patience is often not my virtue.
"Right", she nodded and shifted her attention back to her notebook, writing again.
"What is it Alice?" I caught a sight of her as she waved her hand in my direction, though she was about six feet away. She smiled brightly as she ran towards me standing by an apple tree when Emmett just left to see Rosalie. It was one in the afternoon and classes weren't going to start for another half hour.
"Did you tell Bella yet?" I think that was the millionth time that she's repeated that question.
"Tell her what?" I replied innocently.
"What you've been dying to let her know." I didn't open my mouth—if I told her I had; she would attack me with all her questions.
Alice just smiled widely at me and sped off elsewhere. She had to inquire me about that everyday. The same question over and over again. If I told her that I did, she might actually ask me a different question for once. But all the same, it would still be exasperating. She certainly is troublesome for someone awfully small.
And Bella is the most difficult person I've ever met. I can hardly read her expressions when she can't tell me what they mean, I can hardly understand what she's thinking unless she says something. It made me curious—at the same time, fearful. It made me fearful that it someday might lead to a misunderstanding, followed by an argument; it made me fearful that I might have to lose someone else again.
I needed to stay away from Bella, knowing that I would eventually hurt her. I'd only drive her farther away from me. There was one problem—I couldn't! I couldn't control the grasp that kept me thinking of her, the same grasp that tempted me to always stay with her.
"Edward", Emmett called as he bounced a basketball. "Jasper's waiting at the court, do you want to play ball?" He woke me up from my deep thought, making my eyes blink a couple of times.
"I'll catch up later", I replied. The break in my thoughts didn't satisfy me; I needed more time for thinking things through.
I spotted Bella walking out to the dorms, Justin Leos who was a few steps away from me; he did his daily 'check-up' on her. He would either stand away or near the door just to watch Bella leave for her cabin. As agitated as it made me feel, I try to keep all the steam to myself and let it cool off once I get to see Bella myself.
Matt Koppel, standing a few feet away from me, was talking to his friend. The topic?—Bella. Several times have I overheard him tell his friend that he would finally talk to Bella—but several times he'd also chicken out.
Just as my patience was about to get cut short, I caught the sight of Bella walking towards me , smiling.
"Bella", I said, keeping my tone casual.
"Hi", she said. She bit her lower lip as she placed her hands into her pocket. Awkward silence surrounded us. "Do you know where Alice went?" she suddenly asked.
"She left a few minutes ago." I hesitantly took her hand and walked off with her walking behind me. There were only fifteen minutes left before our next class.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Our tryst", I replied.
"And where exactly would that be?"
"This morning, remember?" I wondered if she would. Many things had happened today, things that I least expected I would do.
"By the pond?"
I nodded my head as I pulled her behind me.
I looked at Bella's reflection; she was standing beside me by the bridge. Her hair had covered both sides of her face as she smiled down at my own reflection. The huge pond had a small waterfall that cascaded down, slightly touching the lily pads on the pond. The soft sound of crickets and frogs filled the whole area. My watch read one twenty in the afternoon.
"When are you planning to let others know?" I asked
"Let them know about… this whole thing?—I don't know, I don't think it's necessary. Are you talking about everyone in camp?"
She was obviously oblivious about the other people around her. The whole thing is incredulous, how could she have not noticed others who liked her? Maybe she really didn't notice, but did it mean that she didn't notice my feelings as well? Innumerable questions were flashing in my head.
"Edward?" Bella cleared me from my deep thoughts.
"Have you ever noticed Justin Leos?"
"Is he the one from our computer science class?" Justin had actually broken one of the computers today. For some unexplainable reason, his computer's central processing unit, produced steam. And later making everyone panic for almost twenty minutes.
"What about him?"
"He annoys me most of the time. He keeps his eye out for you everyday, don't you notice that?"
Bella shook her head.
"What about Matt Koppel?"
"You mean the one who sits on my right during Creative Workshop? Don't tell me—he has a strand of my hair." She mused.
"He always talks about you but he can hardly find the right time to personally talk to you."
She laughed mutely.
"Is it amusing?"
"No", she smiled. "What's amusing is that you allow yourself to be so affected by them. Just ignore them, Edward."
"I don't find it amusing." My face was stern.
"Would you find it amusing if I told you that I get annoyed whenever Lauren has to flirt with you?", the smile on her face didn't disappear.
The fact is that I never really found any interest in Lauren. She was too clingy, not to mention exasperating. I laughed lightly.
"See." She said as she looked at me.
I held her hand as she gripped mine. The bell rang, ten minutes was over. This time, Bella and I had two separate classes for the whole day.
"I'll meet you back here", she waved before turning to leave.
"You're insane, Edward", Emmett said as he finally reached my end of the pool.
It was one-forty and the coach had given us a ten-minute break, followed by a one-lap freestyle race.
I nodded my head.
"He's insane for what?" Jasper swam behind Emmett
"He's a lunatic for not telling Bella things earlier."
"He did?" Jasper was surprised. So far, I've only told Emmett about it when we switched to our swimming trunks in the locker room. "That's great", he gave me a high-five. "What did she tell you?"
"She said 'yes'", I replied.
"You could have heard that reply long ago if you had just told her sooner", Emmett blurted out.
"It's better late than never, I always say", I replied.
"You never said that", Jasper said out loud.
Emmett rolled his eyes as he hit his hand to his forehead.
"Do you know what else surprised me?" I mused as I recalled Bella's clueless reaction. "She didn't know anything about Justin or Matt."
"Whoa", Jasper almost gasped
"Girls", Emmett smirked.
"Emmett, you're beginning to be as sarcastic as Rose", I chuckled.
"Match made in heaven", Jasper grinned.
Emmett smiled, and then his eyes lit up.
"Edward, we have a game later with some other guys. Are you planning on coming?"
"Or are you going to meet up with your new girlfriend?" Jasper added.
I looked at them without any sense of expression.
"He'll be with Bella", Emmett said as if he deciphered my mind.
"So, you told her everything, then?" Jasper asked.
"Not exactly", I looked down on the water.
"Why not, she'll understand, Edward." Emmett replied.
"I'm not sure if she's going to take it that way"
"Then, try it. She has to know." Jasper said.
"You need to tell her about Emily, Edward. It'll be much worse if you tell her sooner or if it comes from someone else. There are no secrets in a relationship, there's mutual understanding"
Jasper and I looked at Emmett.
Emmett grinned. "I know", he smirked. "I can be deep." He chuckled loudly.
"Things are going smoothly; maybe it can wait for a little longer." The truth was, I was afraid if Bella found out; she'll be hurt.
Prrrt! the coach blew his whistle as we went to our own lane. He whistled again and I sped off, heavily stirring my body forward against the current of the water. I propelled my self further to quicken my pace. I was only inches from the other end of the pool—prrrt!
The race was over but I was a mere four inches from the finish line.
"Woo!" Justin Leos cheered as he took off his goggles and waved them in the air. Evidently, he won, but Bella told me to ignore him; I'll do my best.
We walked out of the pool and I made my way to him.
"Congratulations, man", I said shaking his hand.
"Thanks." I was shaking hands with the guy that did a daily check-up on Bella, and I was smiling.
How was it? Review and tell me!
-Kar