Chapter 5: Blood Type

Things began to get stranger and stranger. Mike wasn't his usual annoying self today. He didn't actually talk to me. Instead, he talked through Eric to me about the weather report he watched last night. It was supposed to be sunny tomorrow. He was planning a beach party, and wanted me to come along, too.

In English, Alice and I were talking about the book we were supposed to read today.

"Trust me, Bella, it's not a very good book," Alice warned. "You won't like it."

"Wanna bet?"

"Never bet against a psychic, but okay! I wager one hundred."

I gulped. I didn't have that kind of money on me!

"Um, Alice-"

"I know you don't have money, silly. If you win, you get a hundred. If I win, I'm giving you a makeover."

I really hope I win, then.

"Deal," I said, more confident than I felt. Alice smirked and shook my hand.

...

At lunch I snuck a quick glance at the Cullen table. Alice was telling Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie all about the bet, minus a few details, I guessed. I felt a twinge of sadness when I noticed who was missing. I walked with Jess to her table, carrying noting but a lemonade bottle. I took a swig and looked at the nutrition facts, uninterested. I shrugged when Mike asked if I was going to the beach with them.

"Edward Cullen is watching you," Angela whispered to me. I looked up. Edward? I thought he was gone! Even my wings perked at the news that he was still here.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"He's at the empty table on the right," Ang supplied. I looked over, and sure enough, Edward was sitting there, his expression amused. He was watching me closely, like I was some soap opera he couldn't miss. When he caught my eye, he raised a hand and motioned for me to come over. I stood up at the same time as Lauren, who was also staring at Edward.

"Sit down, Swan. He was looking at me," she sniffed. I scoffed.

"Right. He was so caught up in your eyes that he forgot to motion until now," I growled, getting out of my seat and walking over, my lemonade in hand. Lauren followed me as well.

Soon, we were in front of Edward, Lauren giving him a coy look, me glaring at her. Edward seemed even more amused, but he made a confused expression and looked at Lauren.

"Hi, Edward. I'm sorry this confused..." Lauren looked over me in disdain, "...idiot is here with me, but I assure you I can get rid of her."

I rolled my eyes and sat down.

"I'm sorry Lauren, but I believe that if you're talking about yourself, then by all means, go ahead. But I meant for Bella to sit with me today," Edward said in his polite voice. I stopped myself before I could swoon. Damn vampire allure.

Lauren looked from me to him.

"Fine. But give me a call when you want to be with a real girl," she hinted, walking away.

"'Real'? Please, if she were any more plastic, I would've thought she were a mannequin," I grumbled. Edward snickered. "This is new."

"Well..." Edward frowned and looked down. "I got tired of having to stay away from you, so I quit. Besides, if I'm going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly."

"You honestly believe that? You believe in Hell?"

Edward frowned. Clearly, he had not meant for me to get that.

"Yes, I do. And... I think your friends aren't happy with my stealing you."

"I think they can survive without me," I said smugly.

"I might not give you back," he half-warned, half-teased. I grinned.

"Oh, Lord, save me," I teased back.

"I don't scare you?"

"No. Why? Should I always be scared of a pale-skinned prude?"

Edward winced.

"I guess I deserve that," he said gruffly.

"You're honestly not that scary. I've seen scarier. Way scarier. So... does my sitting here mean we're friends?"

"We can try, but I have to warn you, I'm not a good friend for you."

"Worry about your own health," I mumbled.

"I'm serious! A smart person would stay away from me."

"I see you made the subject of my intellect clear," I snarled.

"I'm sorry!" Edward raised up his hands in apology. "But it's true."

"Don't you think you have this backwards? I can be a threat to you, you know."

"You're no threat to me unless you get somebody to believe that ridiculous story of me suddenly appearing from across the parking lot."

I felt like muttering, "Think again," but decided against it. Vampires can have quite a temper.

"You can't tell me what I can or cannot believe," I growled.

"No, I can't. But I can tell you what's better for you to believe."

"You know I won't listen."

"No, you probably won't."

Edward smiled and looked over.

"Will your friends try to kill me for making you mad?"

"Why do they care? Half of them want gossip or to get in my pants."

Edward smirked, but I saw a bit of rage in his eyes.

"Angela's worried. She thinks I'm not treating you respectfully," he informed me.

"She's a nice girl," I offered.

"Yes, very."

Edward looked at me. I looked down, twirling my lemonade bottle in my hands.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, resting his head in his hand.

"I'm thinking you must be very bored, having me here. I'm also thinking that you may not be as bad as I originally thought."

"Well, I'm not bored," he laughed. "And you're wrong. I'm dangerous. More so than you probably thought before."

"Well so am I," I argued. "It's a small world, ain't it?"

Edward looked surprised at my outburst, but not my statement.

"You're not as bad as me. I'm no superhero. You should be glad I had the decency to save you the other day."

"I don't belive you're bad. You just didn't do good things in your past. Trust me, I know some bad people."

"I guess I'll give you that," he sighed. "Why are you so hard to read?"

"I don't know. Why are you tryiing so hard to read me?" I asked, looking down. Never mind the blush, Edward. Pay attention to my impossible-to-read mind...

"Because I've read everyone except you. I find it very... frustrating."

"Well, I can't see why I can't be equal. You're so cryptic, you make little remarks that keep me up at night wondering, you take interest in me one day, and then there's a glass wall between us, and you won't at least try to explain yourself when you promised. I find that very frustrating, indeed!"

"I can see you're angry with me, and I understand. But... It's not safe for you... If you knew what I'm going through. I may not do anything, but there's others that may say differently."

"Then why does Alice treat me like I'm any other girl, huh? Why must I- and you- always be different? Why am I the unique one?"

"I don't know."

Edward looked down at my lemonade bottle with a slight curiosity.

"You weren't hungry?" he asked randomly.

"I didn't feel hungry. Do I have to ask about you?"

He gave me a lopsided grin that made my insides turn to goo and stole my bottle cap.

"No, I guess you don't."

"Can I ask for something?"

"That depends. What is it?"

"If you're going to ignore, me, can you politely warn me, so I don't get my hopes up? I don't want to seem desperate or anything. I just want to make sure I'm not bothering you or anything."

Edward smirked but readily agreed. I looked around.

"Everybody's leaving," I acknowledged. "It's time for class, we're gonna be late."

"I'm ditching," he said, playing with my bottle cap. I sighed.

"Well, I have to go. I don't want to be late."

"Go ahead," he murmured. I ran to class.

Okay, I think I upped my weirdness factor a little bit more. I'm supposed to kill vampires, but why do I feel so dormant around Edward? It made no sense.

And I'm... blushing. WHY AM I BLUSHING?

I ran past Jasper and Alice. Jasper gave me a startled look and I began to feel peaceful again. Oh. He must've felt my ferocity.

I skidded around a corner and headed down, reaching the doorframe and tripping just as the bell rang. The class snickered.

"All right, enough, class," Mr. Banner scolded them. "Are you all right, Bella?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

There was a lingering scent in the room. It was faint, probably because the classroom has been empty during lunch. But the faint scent managed to turn my stomach. It smelled painfully familiar. I didn't feel so hot any more.

Mr. Banner opened a box that was on his desk. He snapped on gloves and took out a ton of objects.

"Today we are going to be blood typing," he announced.

Blood! That's why the scent was familiar!

He demonstrated on Mike, pricking his pinger until a drop of the horrid liquid was visible to everyone. The scent suddenly grew stronger from just a tiny drop. I felt like I was going to black out. Mr. Banner handed all of us kits. Soon, the air grew thick with the overwhelming scent. I knew I was going to black out soon from the smell. I dropped my head to the table.

"Bella! What's wrong?" Mr. Banner asked. He grabbed my shoulder. His hands reeked of blood. I winced. I was being brought back to Italy.

The needle pricked my shoulder. I smelled something in the room... Something off. It smelled like rust and salt. It made my head swim. I couldn't see straight.

I fell to the ground.

I opened my eyes again and found myself outside, lying on the cold pavement.

"Bella? Is she okay?" I heard somebody ask. Oh, God, no... I don't want to be near a vampire now! Not after that horrible memory-!

"She fainted in Biology. She was mumbling something about familiar..." Mike's voice explained. Oh, that's why I'm here. But why am I on the ground?

"Why is she lying here?" Edward asked. "Bella, are you okay?"

"Go away," I mumbled.

"She muttered something about the cold. I assumed she wanted to cool down. She has a bit of a fever," Mike explained to Edward. Edward immediately put his freezing hand on my forehead. That made me snap.

"No-!" I gasped, smacking his hand away. Edward stiffened. "Oh."

"Are you okay?" Edward asked. "I'll take it from here, Mike."

Mike protested, but earned a glare from both of us that turned him around. Edward lifted me up. My wings began to come out. I strained to hold them back.

"You're shoulders are tense," Edward acknowledged. He shifted his arm, nicking one of my wings. It hurt. I gasped.

"Okay, put me down," I seethed. My wing throbbed. I think he bent it downward...

"Sorry, no can do," he teased.

"Then don't move so much. I feel sick already."

"So you faint at the sight of blood," Edward changed the subject.

"No, I don't," I growled. He was crossing dangerous territory...

"You don't?"

"I faint at the smell of blood. Especially since it reminds me of the men that attacked me in Italy."

"Oh. Humans can't smell blood," he realized. Great Edward. If you're going to say human, why not yell out, "I'm a bloodsucking vampire" while you're at it?

"I can. It smells like rust and salt, and it makes me extremely dizzy."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I fainted slightly when those men attacked me. I was conscious enough to fool them into thinking I was completely unconscious. When they dropped me, I got up and fled."

Edward growled softly.

"Thanks," I said as he set me down in the nurse's office.

"Oh, dear, what happened to Bella?" Mrs. Cope asked. The nurse came in and took my temperature.

"She fainted during the blood typing," Edward explained.

"There's always someone who feels weak..."

Edward fought back a chuckle.

Mike came in again, towing in another boy from class. He saw me and smiled slightly. Edward rolled his eyes at him. Then Mike saw Edward, and the smile vanished. Edward's smile was suddenly wiped off his face.

"Bella, get out. Now," he warned. Oh, no, he isn't gonna go crazy over bloodlust, is he? I scrambled out of the door. Edward was close by, following me out.

"You listened," he realized, surprise clear on his face.

"I saw it on your face that there was blood. I decided not to fight against it."

"That is truly amazing," he remarked.

"Thanks. I'm here all year."

He smiled. Mike appeared.

"Hey, Bella, I see you're feeling better. Want to go back?"

"No, I'll end up coming back over here."

"True. I guess I'll see you in PE..." he left.

"Great, I have gym next," I groaned.

"Here, I'll sneak you out," Edward offered. "Sit down and look faint."

Well, that wasn't a problem. I found a wisp of the smell of blood wafting from the nurse's door. I blanched and sat down, trying not to faint again.

"Mrs. Cope, Bella isn't feeling well. I'm going to have to take her home," I heard Edward say from the front desk.

"Oh, do you need a pass, too, Edward?"

"No, I'm sure Mrs. Goff won't mind," he said. He took my hand and we were out the door.

"You're warmer. Did you smell more blood?" he asked softly when we were outside in the cool air.

"Yeah. I tried not to faint. It was horrible."

"Sorry."

"Well, thanks, Edward," I sighed, heading for my truck.

"Wait," he said, gripping my wrist. "I'll drive you."

"My truck-" I protested.

"Alice will drive it. I can't let you drive when you're feeling weak."

"I can drive fine, now that I feel better," I growled.

"Allow me to drive you, please?" he asked. I stiffened.

Maybe it was in my nature to fight, because my body said run when my mind said, "Oh, hell with it."

"Fine," I grumbled, slipping into the passenger's seat of the Volvo. Edward sat in the driver's seat and we were gone.

"I heard Mike say something about a beach party. I heard the weather report was sunny this Saturday," Edward said.

"Oh. Right. Wanna come?" I asked lightly.

Edward smirked at my question, then frowned.

"What beach is it?" he asked.

"Um, I think Mike said something about La Push, why?"

"I really don't like that beach. Sorry, Bella."

"Oh. No, that's okay, I guess."

I was obviously doing very bad at hiding my disappointment, because Edward smiled sadly.

"I guess I should've guessed, though," I muttered. It was sunny that day, anyway. They can't go out. I closed my eyes and listened to the faint music coming from his speakers. My eyes shot open.

"Clair de Lune?" I gasped. I heard that song all the time from Italy. Sometimes, when I felt lonely, I'd listen to the music as my comfort. Clair de Lune was my favorite.

"You know Debussy?" he asked.

"I heard it almost all the time in Italy. Sometimes, it was my sole comfort..."

"You're adopted, too," Edward acknowledged sadly.

"I never even knew my parents. I guess, in some ways, I'm the lucky one here. I don't have anybody to mourn over, but to wonder who I belonged to. I guess I'm kind of glad Charlie took me in. He's such a fatherly figure I can't help but think of him as my dad."

Edward listened to my rant with sad eyes.

"How old are you, Bella?" he asked.

Oh, a few months... "Seventeen."

"You don't act like you're seventeen. You could be an adult."

"Well, how old are you?" I asked, defiant. My guess was probably a few decades.

"Seventeen," he responded automatically.

"You don't act like a junior, you know."

Edward was silent again.

"Tell me something," I blurted out. Edward turned his head to me.

"Yes?"

"The Cullens adopted you?"

"Yes."

"What happened? With your original family, I mean."

"I've told you before, they died of disease when I was seven," he answered.

"I know, sorry. I just wanted to know about how you were raised before the Cullens. I mean, you couldn't have been a pompous brick-head around your real mom," I teased.

"Oh, is that how you see me?" Edward laughed. He sobered quickly. "I don't honestly remember. I only remember Dr. Carlisle taking me in, and seeing Esme's face for the first time."

"You love them."

"Of course. I've never met two more comforting people."

"What about your brothers and sisters?"

"They'll think I'm being an ass if I don't go back to pick them up," he answered, looking at the clock. I looked outside. How long have we been parked in the driveway?

"Well, bye, then," I mumbled.

"Bella?" Edward asked before I was completely out of the car.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Well, don't take this personally, but... Don't fall in the ocean or anything, okay?"

I gritted my teeth and slammed the door.

Stupid vampire.

...

Late that night, I snuck out of the house and spread my wings. It felt weird, having them out after so long. My wing bones felt tight, like I needed to stretch. I took off flying.

Tonight was different. The air was mildly warmer, and the wind was faint. Tomorrow will definitely be a sunny day. I was reaching the Goat Rocks Wilderness, staying high off the ground in case any predators would be lurking nearby. My wings lifted me higher than I intended. My instincts were telling me it wasn't safe down there at all.

My hearing tripled. My advanced sight caught a glimpse of movement. I watched.

It was Edward and Emmett! What were they doing out here?

There were two grizzlies fighting, about half a mile in Edward and Emmett's directions. I almost laughed. I could imagine those bears trying to fight off the two vampires...

Edward and Emmett reached the bears. Emmett roared, knocking the biggest one away. Edward attacked the other. I gasped. They were killing the bears!

Now I got it. Flying away, back to Forks, I finally got it. The Cullens had different eye colors because their eating style was different. They drank from animals, not humans. I breathed a sigh of relief. So maybe I could trust Dr. Cullen now.

Edward wasn't much of a threat. Neither was his family. I didn't have to kill them, because they couldn't slip up.

Thank God.

AN: I had a bit of a problem during the lunch scene, when Bella was talking to Edward. About half of it in Twilight was talking about Bella's "theories"! And this Bella already knows about vampires, so that wouldn't work. :P