Disclaimer: The disclaimer posted at the beginning of this story still stands.

Chapter 10: Progress

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick… I waited for the constant ticking to stop… for the boiling and pricking under my skin to stop… Waited for everything to go back to normal.

"Hey Masen, are you coming?"

My hand slipped from under my chin as Mike Newton sauntered toward me. Okay, I wasn't waiting for that.

"Where?" I answered distractedly.

"Oh we were just going to cut the rest of the afternoon and frolic under the sun…."

I raised my eyebrows at him. If I was distracted before, that certainly caught my attention. "What?"

Newton's brow furrowed as he examined me tentatively. "That was supposed to be a joke." He frowned at my lack of comprehension. "It's time for lunch."

A new wave of depression hit me as I stood up to follow him. "Oh."

"Hey, you alright? You seem pretty out of it these past days."

I sighed, letting the question hang unanswered. 'Pretty out' seemed like an understatement. The week crawled and I found myself slipping more and more. Every sound seemed like a continuous drawl, my surroundings were a blur. Nothing made sense.

If you'd have asked me at that moment what day it was, I would have not been able to answer you the name of the day itself… but I could answer what day it was. That wouldn't make any sense to other people but to me, it was pretty logical. It was the sixth day of Isabella Cullen's absence, excluding the weekend that passed. Yes, she was my day marker.

I was quite anxious of running into her in the hallway or of sitting in the same room with her during class after the awkward happening that passed between us at the symposium, but my anxiety wasn't of use.

The Monday after the symposium, she didn't go to school. All of her siblings were there and I was painfully aware of them throughout the day. Sometimes I had a feeling that their eyes were glued to me, carefully observing, anticipating my every move— as if I would shout out some horrible secret that would put all of them in jeopardy. But whenever I glanced back, they proved me wrong... so I go back to whatever I was doing— which was consequently staring out into space— and the goosebumps on the back of my neck come right back. And because this occurrence happened so often, by this time, I didn't heed much mind into it as I used to. It already seemed somewhat normal, expected.

This trivial matter wasn't too much of a distraction.

I would think about the Cullens' eyes on me for a mere few seconds and my mind would swoop off to those scorching topaz eyes that seemed to follow me wherever I went. I would think of how those long, smooth, brown locks would have felt on my fingers… and that dazzling smile… her breathtaking face… and as I thought about Isabella Cullen, I was certain that every nerve ending in my body was being tortured.

I couldn't explain why I felt that way. It was like my pain wanted to call out to her, like it was positive that if it continued just long enough, if it continued to surmount, it would certainly and surely bring her back. So on the pain went, coursing through me, increasing overtly as the days passed without Bella.

I tried to convince myself, make up reasons and arguments, that Isabella Cullen wasn't the primary cause of all this suffering but I knew I was only fooling myself.

It was ironic in some way that this was happening to me. I can clearly recall how determined I was in the past not to be like these Forks boys who couldn't keep their eyes away from her… these boys whose everyday life revolved around her. Now I suddenly find myself as one of those boys. What's worse is that my life didn't just revolve around her— I could feel my life slipping away from my grasp and start to depend on her existence… and it scared me. And this pain doubled, maybe even tripled my apprehension.

Surely these boys, my schoolmates, were just as affected by her as I was? Of course they were.

Just as I thought I could take no more, with all the pain and the unanswered questions, Mike Newton decided to interrupt my string of thoughts. Just a small distraction, but I would treat that as quite a big favor. I owed him one… whether he wanted that or not.

I was quite surprised as I walked from the classroom to the cafeteria. With each step I took, the pain that I previously felt dimmed— all the more reason to owe Newton for his distraction. But simultaneously, as I drew closer to the lunch room, my heart rate started to climb. I was so sure that as I entered the cafeteria with Newton and Tyler, my heart was just about ready to jump out of my chest. It thundered, unwilling to quiet down even as I took deep, long breaths.

Maybe I was having a heart attack… no. I wasn't having difficulty in breathing and I was sure as hell not clamming up or breaking into cold sweat.

I tried to distract myself from the pounding in my chest as we fell into line to grab our lunch. We walked back to our usual table and Newton and his friends quickly fell into their usual debate— where was Isabella Cullen?

Their theories were quite amusing if I do say so myself. One of the more far- fetched ones was that Bella was really a celebrity in disguise. Her real identity got discovered so she had to move and was now on the run. Hilarious…

The others weren't as… imaginative as this one. Although, I couldn't really quite place the theory on Bella eloping as to either funny or irritating. At first, it humored me, true… but as time passed, it annoyed me. And right now as they brought it up again, it was infuriating me. I wanted to smack their heads together so that they would shut up and throw that theory out the window.

As I thought about this sudden aggravation, I became more displeased. Why was I acting so… protective? She didn't mean anything to me. More accurately, I didn't want her to mean anything to me. But time was proving that she did mean something in my life… no matter how miniscule.

I looked at the Cullens' table— out of habit— but her brunette hair was not visible to my eyes. What was I expecting? That she would be sitting with her family— everything back to normal? If she came back today, I would have seen her first thing in the morning. I did have first period with her after all. Stupid. I do look at their table out of habit and I should have learned not to expect anything by now. As far as I knew, Isabella Cullen could have moved to another continent.

With this realization, I was ready to leave the lunchroom altogether just to avoid this bout of depression. I was thankful I wasn't in pain anymore— why it stopped, I had no idea, I was just grateful that it did. But as I withdrew my gaze from their table, my feet remained flat on the floor. My body refused to stand up and move. My mind was telling me to sit put and just wait.

Wait for what, though? The bell? Well, the bell wouldn't ring for another 45 minutes and if that was the case, I had a lot of waiting to do.

But I didn't further question what my mind told me to do. I would sit down and wait like it told me to do— I would be a good boy. Besides, there was nothing else to do for the remainder of the lunch period so what better excuse to let my mind fly off than to sit here?

And then it happened again.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I was certain that they were watching me again but if I looked back and saw nothing, I would feel too assuming. What the heck. I looked back at their table and my gut feeling did not disappoint.

There, staring right back at me, were butterscotch eyes. Not the pair of eyes that I yearned to see, but still.

The petite one, the smallest, Alice Cullen, was looking at me with calculating eyes. I should have flinched away from her gaze but I continued to look back at her. I swear I saw her lips vibrating slightly, as if moving in an incomprehensible speed and murmuring indistinct words, but from this distance, I couldn't be sure.

Then slowly, she smiled. My eyes widened with surprise.

Her smile was quite disarming. Not as heart-fluttering as Bella's, not nearly as brilliant and dazzling. No. She could never measure up… at least not in my eyes.

At the corner of my eyes I saw the blond boy, Jasper Hale if I remember correctly, turn his head to my direction and scrutinize me with the same calculating expression. There it was again, his lips moved like the small one's a while ago.

Just when I thought my mind was satisfied with all the tricks it played with me, I saw Alice Cullen jerk her head at me— an invitation to go to them. And as if on cue, my body woke up from its self-imposed, temporary hibernation. I stood up, my mind disjointed from my body.

"Where are you going?" Jessica asked, quite surprised with my sudden movement.

"I think… Alice Cullen wants to talk to me." I said the name and the sentence more like a question than a sure statement.

"Alice Cullen?"

The entire table reacted at the same time, earning a few stares from the people within an earshot.

My eyes snapped back to my friends, my brow furrowed with disappointment. Yes, it was a surprise for such to happen, but they could have limited their reactions to themselves.

"Yes, her."

I sighed as I looked back to the girl in question. She was wearing the same exasperated expression as mine, but it was mixed with a hint of patience and amusement.

I dislodged myself from my seat and started to saunter towards the Cullens' table, albeit unsure, just to escape another round of similar reactions from my friends— which would have been inescapable if the discussion went on.

Both Alice and Jasper stood up as I reached their table. The big muscled one glanced at me with amusement and the blond girl acted as if I was as visible as air, but the latter two remained on their seats.

"Edward Masen, I presume?" Alice Cullen said with an air of certainty.

Once again, I was surprised. Her voice was like a chorus of bells, so soothing.

I nodded as my hands fumbled inside my pockets.

"I'm Alice Cullen. It's nice to finally meet you." Her smile brightened even further as we shook hands. My fingers twitched for a moment at the initial contact. Her skin was so cold.

"It's nice to meet you too." I smiled.

The blond boy beside her coughed suggestively.

"Oh yes! This is Jasper Hale." Then she turned towards the rest of the people at her table. "The blond stubborn one is Rosalie Hale, his twin and the goofball beside her is Emmett Cullen. They're my family." Her smile dulled for the smallest bit. "The most of my family, at least."

I needn't ask her what she meant. I nodded my head at them in acknowledgement and offered a small, tentative smile. Only Jasper and Emmett returned it. The blond girl merely glanced at me… well, glared would be the most appropriate term.

Alice took my arm and turned me away from their table. "Don't mind her. She's almost always like that." She whispered softly.

I thought I might have heard a soft growl behind me but Alice's grip tightened and disabled me to look back and check.

"It's okay, really." I assured her. "What did you want to talk about?"

She glanced beside me and I was surprised to see Jasper there. Hmm. I thought he was beside Alice.

"I know this might be a bit too forward. We're not even close friends, but can we ask a favor from you?"

It was her turn to fumble with her fingers. But despite this one act of uncertainty, her eyes seemed so sure, so competent that I would indeed do her a favor.

"What kind of favor?" And why me of all people?

She smiled mischievously at me and wiggled her eyebrows. "You'll see."

Read and review people.:)