Chapter 4: Invitations
It was dark. I looked around me, but everywhere I looked, nothingness stared back. I couldn't see my own hands. I tried to fly away, but I couldn't feel my wings.
What kind of sick dream was this?
And then, my eyes caught onto a patch of light. I stared.
It wasn't a patch of light. It was pale skin. It was Edward.
"Edward, I'm scared," I blurted out. Edward's eyes were as black as my dream. He stared at me coldly and walked away.
"No, Edward, don't leave me," I pleaded. His retreating figure became smaller in the distance. I tried to run. I forced myself to dream up wings, but when I looked at them, they were dented and broken. I couldn't use them.
"Edward!" I screamed. I tried to fly.
My wings felt like they were being crushed by some unseen force. I struggled to stay in the air.
Finally, I felt the sensation of falling. I couldn't see the ground- it was so dark-, so I closed my eyes and waited for the impact.
Light burst through my eyes and I found myself on the floor, my blanket twisted around my body. Oh. So that held my wings down.
I sat up, groaning, and looked at my clock. It was six in the morning.
...
It took a whole month for the excitement to die down. The unfortunate part was that I suffered both halves of the ordeal. Nobody turned to bother Edward.
Tyler insisted that he drove me every day to school, but thanks to my complains to Charlie, the chief eventually said he'll arrest Tyler again if Tyler kept on coming back on his property.
Mike sat next to me every day, asking me about how I was feeling. He was worried that I might start dating Edward. If only he knew that Edward and I dating would be like putting a cat and dog in a very small room together.
My lab partner ignored me. He was getting to be worse than that first day, when all he would do was send death glares at me. At least that was contact. He was gaining the personality of a corpse (no pun intended).
Let's say I'd rather jump hurdles a thousand times in gym than have this type of silence between us. It was unnerving.
Alice was talkative, as usual, but I only saw her in English, because after, before, and during school, Edward pulled her away from me. It was funny, because he acted like he was the leader- the eldest. I sort of expected the big and brawny Emmett to intervene and take command.
"Well, my brother is just confused right now. Jazzy says so."
"What, can Jasper read his mind?"
Alice giggled, like there was some kind of joke in my statement.
"No... He's an empath. He can control emotions and read them. Like if he stands next a romantic couple, immediately he feels loved. Or lusty. It depends on the kind of couple. And then he can send hatred their way and they'll be exes in two seconds flat."
"Oh, I hope he doesn't do that!" I gasped.
"No, he doesn't. And if he did, either Rose, Esme, or I'll rip his head off."
I sighed with relief. Jasper? He's definitely another vampire that piqued my interest.
"Does everyone in your family have special powers?" I asked warily.
"That you'll have to find out by yourself."
"You're just as bad as my voice," I mumbled. Alice shot me a curious look.
That reminded me. My head hasn't been zapping me with new info.
Hello? Isabella's brain? Anybody?
Nothing happened, so I sighed in defeat.
"Alice, you know my secret, right?"
Alice smiled, and nodded.
"Do you know everything?"
Alice frowned before answering.
"Not really. I know that you have jet black wings and can fly. I know that you distance yourself away from my family, save me, as much as possible. Oh, and you noticed that Edward is a little... fast."
I snorted at her attempt to hide the secret.
"That's it?"
"Yep."
"Well, what if I told you..."
I leaned in to whisper in her ear.
"...that I believe in vampires?"
Alice stiffened. She stared at me in shock. I smiled and raised my right hand.
"Secret's safe with me," I promised. "Just keep it a secret between us, okay? I don't want your biggest brother tackling me. Or I'll send him flying through the wall."
Alice nodded, still dazed. I frowned and watched her occasionally while English class went on, ignorant of out conversation in the back. Alice tapped my shoulder. I looked up.
"You know about us?" she hissed.
"Yeah. I can't help knowing. I was made to destroy your kind. But I won't hurt you."
"Then you know about our... leaders?"
"I have to. Otherwise I'm stupid. Aro's my somewhat 'father'."
Alice gasped.
"Did we do anything wrong? Is Demitri tracking your every move?"
"No, I just escaped here and happened to come across a horde of vampires. Some luck."
"Why would you escape?"
I sighed.
"They were testing about a hundred Isabellas before me. Every day, they would bring one out and inject vampire venom into her. She would twitch and moan, and then eventually die. Or they're still alive and die seconds later."
"How horrible!"
"They get placed in a burner. Then there is no trace of the defective subject. I was placed in there, too."
"You survived the venom?"
"I'm not even sure if they gave me enough to eat at my blood," I explained. "But I smelled blood and fainted. They thought I was defective, and in the burner I went! I escaped, and came here on a cargo ship."
Alice looked at me with pity.
"I wear long sleeves to hide this," I added, pulling my sleeve up to show the Volturi crest. Alice inspected it closely.
"No I have no reason to doubt your story," she whispered. "That birthmark is exactly the same as the crest!"
"Don't tell anybody, please?"
"Can I tell Jazzy?"
"Nobody."
"Okay. But you'll have to tell them eventually," Alice warned me.
"Why should I?"
"Oops. Never mind."
"Tell me!"
"No! Oh, and Mike Newton will ask you to the dance in biology today... Or should I say he's going to ask you to ask him? He told Jessica Stanley he'll think about it, but really he's hoping to get you to go out with him."
This distracted me.
"Mike Newton is an idiot."
"Yes he is. One important rule you must always follow: Do not politely decline a girl's invitation and go out with her friend. It's a recipe for disaster."
"Most definitely. Well, disaster in my case."
Alice tried to hide her giggle.
At lunch, I wasn't surprised when Jessica ignored me and Mike, and talked to Tyler and Eric instead. Lauren was watching us very closely. I was sure that if Mike even sneezed in my direction, she'll spread a rumor around saying that Mike and I were a couple. I could see the gears working overdrive as she came up with a plan.
It might just be my imagination, but I thought I saw Edward turn his head in my direction. I looked up, but the sneaky vampire had already turned his head back to his sister, who was animatedly talking to the whole family. I felt afraid for a moment. What if Alice was telling them everything? What if Edward looked to check if I was dangerous? Will he demand information from me? Will he try to kill me because of my relation to the Volturi?
I shook my head and looked down, stabbing a piece of lunchmeat and popping it into my mouth.
"Bella?" Angela whispered, nudging me.
"Yeah?" I asked out loud, shaken from my reverie. Everyone looked at me strangely. They were all standing up with their backpacks slung over their shoulders.
"It's time for biology," she said quietly, blushing at the sudden attention.
"Oh, then let's go."
I quietly sat in my seat, trying my best to ignore the lethargic vampire in the other seat. Mike strolled over.
"Hey, Bella," he said cheerfully.
"Hi, Mike." The way I said his name, you could've sworn I was using it like a cuss word. Mike didn't notice, however, and proceeded to make the next minute of my life as embarrassing as possible.
"Will you go to the dance with me?"
"It's girls' choice," I said simply. I heard a boy in the back say, "Burn."
"I know, but... Will you ask me?"
"What about Jess?"
"Well, she asked me-"
"Wonderful!" I said, giving him a toothy smile that was not short of just baring my teeth. "You two will have a great time."
"She asked me, but I told her I'd think about it, because I was hoping you'd ask me."
My fake smile turned into just me baring my teeth. I closed my lips and eyes, trying my best to smile again.
"I'm sorry, Mike, but I'll be on a trip to Seattle that weekend."
"Can't you go on some other weekend?"
"Nope. I'm sure Jessica will be very happy to hear you accepted her invitation," I hinted. Luckily, unlike all the other hints I throw at Mike on a daily basis, this one actually made it to one of his few, precious brain cells.
"Oh, okay, then."
I thought I saw Edward look in my direction, but I ignored him and payed attention to Mr. Banner.
"Bella?"
"Cullen?" I mimicked the slightly mocking/curious edge I heard in Edward's voice. "You're speaking to me again?"
"No, not really. I just wanted to tell you that we shouldn't be friends."
"Oh, really? I didn't know that about a month of complete silence and treating me like a pariah automatically made us best buds."
"It's better that we weren't friends, okay?"
"Oh, sure, say that now, after I've been saved from a van."
"What are you saying?" Edward's eyes narrowed.
"Maybe, instead of acting rudely to me for fun, you should've let that van squish me. At least then there would be no regret."
"I regret... saving you?"
"Oh, sure you do. I see it in your eyes every rare time we look at each other. You keep the rest of your family away from me. You just wish I were dead."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, well!"
We glared at each other, and then Edward turned his gaze away.
At the end of class, Eric tried to ask me to the dance as well. I only had to repeat half of my conversation with Mike for him to get it. Wow, Mike was so pitiful, now that I think about it.
Gym was horrible. Mike sort of held a grudge, and let all the balls in volleyball go in my direction. Like I said, horrible.
Then there was the parking lot scene. I was about to pull out, but Cullen was already one step ahead of me. He stopped right before me and waited. The rest of the Cullens seemed to be taunting me with the slow speed they were walking at. Tyler took this time to make a move.
"Bella!" he called from outside my window.
"Sorry, Tyler, as you can see, Cullen's the road block, here."
"I can see that, but I was wondering, are you going to Seattle on the day of the dance?"
"Yeah, why?"
Tyler suddenly looked sheepish.
"I was just thinking that... maybe... you were letting the other guys down easy."
I fought the urge to growl at him.
"Um, Tyler, no. I'm really going to Seattle that weekend."
"Oh, no, it's okay. I still get to take you to prom!" Tyler said half-heartedly. He walked off before I could say something, and just when I undid my seatbelt to chase after him and yell some form of a bad word at him, Cullen moved again. And I could swear I caught laughter in his eyes through the rear-view mirror.
Oh, if only I could demolish that car... but I couldn't. Too many witnesses.
At home, Charlie asked me about the dance. I changed his mind about it when I said I was going shopping instead.
In the morning, I bumped into Edward- again. Actually, he bumped into me.
Bumping into him was probably the worst thing to do. I quickly dropped my keys when my wings tried breaking out of my jacket. While Edward was momentarily distracted with picking up my keys, I calmed myself down.
"Bella," he said calmly.
"Oh, it's confusing Edward," I rolled my eyes. I snatched my keys, but when I tried to pull my arm back, he grabbed my wrist.
"Hey!" I yelled in protest.
"You know that day of the dance?" he asked. It was so quick, I could swear it was one word.
"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered. Edward's eyebrows came together.
"I was going to offer you a ride to Seattle that day. I don't like dances, either."
I froze in my tracks. I stared at him in shock. Was Edward Cullen, a vampire and my immortal enemy, asking me out?
"What?"
"Do you need a ride? I don't really mind driving you, and it'll save gas and the environment."
"Excuse me, but my truck runs fine-"
"Just tell me yes or no."
"Honestly Edward, you confuse the hell out of me. You hate me one day, then another you're suddenly interested, and then you save me, you treat me like I'm nobody, you tell me you don't want to be friends, and now you're asking me out?"
"'Asking you out' is such a generic term. I think I'm actually asking if you want a ride to Seattle."
"A ride to Seattle and back requires us to be together at all time so you don't drive off without me. Trust me, you're asking me out."
"Do you want it or not?"
"Fine, I'll take it! Sheesh!"
Edward smiled briefly, but then said, "But seriously, you should stay away from me."
What a confusing vampire!