AN: Many of you reviewed! WHOO! Sorry it took so long to update…

Okay, a lot of you asked about Bella's eyes. If you look in last chapter, Mike Newton asked Bella if she had gotten contacts. Now, Bella hasn't seen herself in the mirror, yet, so something is different with her, including her eyes. But you must read to see what it is; obviously it isn't terribly awful because the Cullens- Edward…- is letting her go to class.

Enjoy.

"Which brings us to how you know about the Volturi. You mentioned it the other day," he reminded me.

"Let's leave that for another day," I laughed. "We are going to be late for classes."

"Speaking of classes… um… Carlisle wanted one of us to be in every class with you so that we could help you during school. Alice wanted to do it, but… I won," he said while looking into my eyes. I just nodded. Edward Cullen changed his schedule to be with me.

Becoming a vampire has its ups.

And I'm almost fully-fledged.

15. Endless Night and New Bliss

So that was what he meant! That's great. I should have told him "yes". Maybe he will forget he asked…

"It isn't that noticeable, of course! Well, it is, definitely it is, but it's so pretty!" Alice had stolen me away at the end of first hour and made it a point that I see a mirror. Mike Newton hadn't been too crazy to ask about the contacts. My eyes were still brown, but the outer circle where the brown meets the white was golden now. It was disconcerting, definitely, but it was unique. What made my eyes so freaky, though, was the red sparks throughout the brown flow of my eyes. The flecks were what made it appear I had contacts.

Hey, some people have blue-green eyes; I have brown-red-gold eyes.

"Why are you laughing, Bella?" Alice asked, but she already knew, not because she could see my future- she couldn't- but because she was within vampire hearing range when Newton asked about the contacts.

My face was different, too, but I was still plain. I was paler, if that was possible for me, the albino- which I definitely was now because of the red specks in my eyes. My hair was richer and wavier like the women in the hair commercials. That's a plus, I thought. My lips were fuller. The thought of lips brought up thoughts of Edward.

"I'm sorry you didn't get to talk to him in class," Alice stated, noticing the sad look on my face.

Edward and I hadn't been able to sit together in first hour because we were assigned seats. He was in front of me so I got to see the back of his head, but it had nothing on the glories of his face. Edward kept taking backward glances at me and would smile when he caught me staring at him, but who could help it? He was a work of art… And I was so glad he couldn't read my mind.

"Is it really that transparent?"

"Bella, Bella, Bella, you are what we like to call an 'open book'"

"So I have been told." With this, Alice laughed. "We better get to class or we will be late."

Since Edward would be in all of my classes… all of my classes… I would get to see him again. I wasn't disappointed when he was able to sway Mrs. Baterensonsylatondolon to let him sit by me for the rest of the year.

"So what do you think of the eyes?" he asked when Mrs. Baterensonsylatondolon was talking about the Book Fair coming up in a month. I wasn't listening because I was too busy looking at the side of Adonis's face.

"I think they are beautiful," I said. But I wasn't talking about my eyes. I was referring to the topaz ones penetrating my gaze, now.

He smiled crookedly and touched the tip of his thumb to the tip of my nose, "I was referring to the gorgeous pools in front of my- what did you call them?- 'beautiful' eyes."

"Eh, those are alright, too, I guess."

"More than okay."

"Okay."

He laughed at the rolling of my eyes and kissed my forehead. I was stunned so much that when Mrs. Baterensonsylatondolon said, "Mr. Cullen, keep your lips to yourself", it sounded like, "Edward Cullen just can't keep his hands to himself". With vampire senses, it was a stretch that I could mix up what Mrs. Baterensonsylatondolon had said, but Edward had cast a spell on me; I was dazzled.

"But he is keeping his hands to himself," I stated.

"Miss Swan?"

"Yes?"

Mrs. Baterensonsylatondolon gave me a comical look and stated in a firm, but playful, tone, "I believe you may need to see the nurse. Mr. Cullen has obviously placed you in a state."

"Sorry," I mumbled. The class at large laughed as I blushed- well, with lack of the red color.

"No, I'm sorry," Edward was definitely amused, "for placing you in a state."

"Shut up, you stupid shiny Volvo owner," I mumbled, forgetting that he could hear me perfectly. His laughter was definitely being controlled into an acceptable range; otherwise Mrs. Baterensonsylatondolon would have kicked him out in a jip.

"Hey, hey now, don't hate the shiny Volvo, Miss Swan," Edward adminoshed.

"So sorry, Mr. Cullen."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"You are not," he laughed.

"I are, too!"

"Miss Swan, please, if you are going to argue during my lecture, do use correct grammar," Mrs. Baterensonsylatondolon said.

"Sorry again, Mrs. B."

"You know I don't like it when students shorten my name. Honestly, it isn't that hard to pronounce. Come on class, say it with me: Mrs. Baterensonsylatondolon."

No further explanation needed. As the bell rang, Mrs. B gave us permission to, from now on, please, call her Mrs. B. Edward and I were the only ones in the class to get the first four syllables correct. The rest was history. Seriously, it went kaboom.

"I really, really hope that if I get married I won't have that many syllables in my last name," I laughed.

"Maybe you will only have three or four… or two," Edward stated seriously.

Cul-len… Oh, shoot… "Hopefully no more than two," I said shyly. This made Edward's smile return again.

The rest of the day went the same as Mrs. Baterensonsylatondolon's class. I don't think I have ever gotten in trouble so much in my life. Edward Cullen is a troublemaker.

"Bella Swan, you are such a troublemaker. I have never gotten in trouble this much in my existence- that's a pretty long time," Edward said as I climbed into his Volvo. By some strange occurrence, my truck had magically disappeared from the lot. It didn't take a magical faery to know that Alice had wanted to give me some alone time with Edward, and to do that she stole my keys and drove the truck home after first hour. Second hour was her free period.

Edward had, oh so graciously, offered to give me a ride home. He had also apologized, with a smile, for his sister junk-napping my truck. Of course, I had defended my large piece of metal, though; I didn't admit to Edward that its slowness had annoyed me on the trip to school.

Cullen didn't disappoint on the speed factor; he drives like a maniac. But I enjoyed every millisecond of it.

When we arrived at my house, Edward told me he would see me later. I hoped that later would be too far away. It seemed too-good-to-be-true that he wanted to see me again so soon.

Charlie came home to a nice meal. Because I was so happy from seeing Edward all day, I made my dad an amazing meal of steak and potatoes. Well, he said it was amazing. To me, it stunk. Seriously, food stinks now. I think if almost-vampires could gag that I would have. No more human food, check.

Something in me was coming to the realization that tomorrow I wouldn't be human anymore- I wouldn't be half-human, either. No, tomorrow I would be a full vampire. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, yet, or what would come with it. I knew about the bloodlust from the past few days, but I had a feeling that it would be worse than that once I was full-fledged. Edward would help me with it- all the Cullens would. That thought helped ease the uneasiness.

I took a shower while Charlie watched television downstairs, and then I went to my room. I wasn't tired. I felt wired, like I could do anything, but I had already taken a shower so a run was a no, no. So I settled down and read Wuthering Heights. I was still reading when Charlie went to bed. I listened as his breathing became shallower and finally he was snoring. It was amazing that I could hear so well between walls. I could smell the awful stench of Charlie's dinner from the fridge downstairs.

"Bella?"

I put my book down. "Edward?"

"Can I come up?" he asked uncertainly. I got up from the bed and walked to my window. Sure enough, Edward was leaning against the tree- looking like a male model- and waiting for my reply.

"Uh, sure." It sounded more like a question than an invitation and Edward laughed at the uncertainty in my voice.

I was amazing when he jumped into the tree and held on to the branch closest to my window. I could feel his breath in my face as he leaned closer into the window, still holding on to the branch. I was intoxicated. He smelled so good, and I took a large breath and closed my eyes. "Bella," he said. "Mmmmm?" I was barely paying attention. "You're blocking my entrance," he stated amused.

I moved and shook myself out of my state of dizziness.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey." I laughed. He took a shaky breath and crossed the room to the bed. We both sat cross-legged facing each other on the bed. "I was getting bored."

"I couldn't wait until tomorrow to see you," he whispered.

"Me either." To that he smiled and I melted.

"What?"

"Nothing," I shrugged. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Supposed to do when?" he seemed truly confused, though I thought it was extremely obvious.

"I don't have to sleep anymore so… What do I do?"

"Whatever you want."

"I want you to stay," I whispered. He studied me for a minute. His eyes lingered on my hair, then my lips, and finally my eyes. He replied, "Then I will." My heart leaped, maybe, if it still could. I could feel it shutting down slowly. Yes, tomorrow I would be different, and I needed Edward to help me through it.

"Promise me?"

"Bella, as long as you want me, I will be here."

AN: I just can't seem to make long chapters. I hope you forgive me. I have to do things in segments with all of my stories. I'm sorry for the long wait and the short chapter.

~Sylvia~