Twilight—50 Years Later

Part III

The next day, I was already anxious even before the bus stopped and dropped us off at school. I was nervous—I didn't know what the Cullens were, which honestly scared me a little. I tried not to have those topics in my thoughts, just going on and on about everything immaterial and inane that passed through my mind. I had to keep it busy; lest I would think about something I wasn't interested in contemplating about.

"You okay?" Steve asked me, sitting on the bench next to me with his lunch tray on the table, his fauxhawk still on his head. If it were any other day, I would still have giggled privately, but today wasn't one of those carefree days.

"Uh, yeah. Sure. I just..." Would I tell it to Steve? Who could I trust with this inexplicable secret, though I had nothing to do with it? It wasn't even my secret to tell, I couldn't just expose it to anyone I thought worthy of it. "Nothing. I'm just tired."

"You look a little worn-out. You get any sleep last night?" Steve took a bite of his pizza.

"Nope. None at all, actually. I gotta go. I'll see you later, Steve."

"Alrighty then."

I waved him good-bye, then stepped across the cafeteria to the one table I never thought I would be directed to. I wasn't really planning on doing this, but my impulsiveness got the better of me. I kept my thoughts as simple as possible. No, that was an outright lie. My head was hysterical.

Don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, I screamed inside my head like it was a chant.

As I walked to their table, Edward Cullen looked up. Omigod, he's looking. Why am I doing this, I shouldn't be doing this, I shouldn't be doing this, I'm stupid for doing this. Then, Bella looked up, and her body became rigid. She held onto Edward's hand tight, and he seemed to soothe her with inaudible words. I wasn't even sure he was speaking. Her eyes were dimmer than when I last saw her a few minutes ago... She looks like she's about to kill me. Omigod, what if she does? What if she's like, a killer or something? Edward suddenly tensed and looked gravely into my eyes. What if everyone on that table wants to kill me? Why am I doing this? It doesn't make any sense. Gramps doesn't make any sense. Maybe we're both crazy.

I slowed my steps as I got closer. All of their eyes were on me now, looking curious and mad at the gap I was sealing between us. I didn't think of what I was going to do; I was cursing myself too much to think of it.

"Hi," one of them said. I looked to her direction to see it was Alice Cullen.

"Uhm, hi. I'm Brooke. I was wondering if I could talk to Bella for a moment." What would I say to her? What would she say to me? Seriously, why am I doing this? I almost completely decided to turn around. I think I almost did. I saw Alice looking at me with impassive eyes, as if she wasn't really looking at me. Everyone else was looking at her, and so did I. I wondered what was wrong with Alice. It was as if she was sleeping while her eyes were open.

"May I ask why?" Edward asked politely. His voice was so smooth and feathery and formal. I wondered how old he was... I immediately took that thought out of my head. Blah, blah, blah, blah, I repeated, trying to take that out-of-limits thought out from my head.

"I just wanted to talk... Uhhm..." I never really had a solid reason for taking her away from her family to chat. What was I thinking?

My impetuosity was finally tired with my stalling and avoidance, so I just threw something out that would give them a little reason as to why I wanted to talk. "My name is Brooke New—" No! Shut up, shut up, shut up! "New...man. Brooke Newman. I already said my name... I'm not sure why I'm doing this. I think I'm just going to leave now."

I turned around, and as I did, something cold caught my arm, making me shiver instantly. I turned and saw Edward behind me, pulling on my arm as gently as possible.

"Is there something you'd like to tell me?" he asked calm and collectedly, as if he was trained to do that in hectic situations.

"Actually, I just wanted to talk to your girlfriend. You think she'd like to talk to me, or is she just going to keep looking like a beautifully sedated bear finally waking up and wanting to attack?"

He narrowed his eyes at my sudden sardonic words.

"Sorry, that was not me. I'm regrettably impulsive, sometimes. I don't even know what I'm doing."

"Why do you want to talk to Bella?" he asked.

"Actually, I don't really know, but I'll tell you when I get that figured out." I took my arm from his grasp and walked back to Steve.

"You are one brave girl, you know that?" Steve informed me.

"Why?"

"Because you did the one thing no one else would do. What'd you talk to them about?"

"To tell you the truth, I was just babbling. Sometimes I act before I think... I didn't know I was going to do that, I swear, and I don't think I'll do it again anytime soon."

"Well, brave you are, Brooke."

I smiled and turned around from the Cullen table, the mortified feeling finally sinking in. That didn't go so well. Maybe I should just let this go. I must've looked like a freak to them. They must know that they're the freaks of the school, but the others haven't seen me in action like the Cullens just did. I would be the freak rather than them.

The day went by normally; I didn't get caught for sleeping in the remaining classes, I received homework I probably wouldn't do until it was way past the due date, and then it was finally time to go home. Michael said that he would pick me up after school instead of letting me catch the horrible bus, so I waited by the student parking lot.

I just stood there on the grass, waiting innocently for my brother, when I saw Edward coming towards me. It looked like an impossible dream, him walking to me. There must've been someone behind me that he wanted to talk to, so I just looked away and continued waiting.

To my surprise, he wanted to talk to me. Weird.

"Brooke," he began. Whoa. The sound of my name through his lips sounded like a melody. "Are you sure you've nothing to say?"

"Look, Edward, really, I'm just a blonde with purple hair. Does it look like I could possibly know what I'm talking about?"

"I certainly can't figure you out."

"Good. Let's just leave it that way." I turned around, not exposing my red face to his beautiful eyes. Or else something bad will be the result if I spoke what's really on my mind.

"What was that?" he asked.

"What was what?" I twisted my face to look at him.

"What was it that you just said?" he reiterated impatiently.

"I didn't say anything." I scoffed. "Unless you read my mind. Heh." I thought about that for a moment. What if he could read minds? Oh, God, that would mean he would be reading my mind right now! I should keep quiet. I looked at him, my head utterly empty of thoughts. He looked back at me in horror, like he was watching an accident happening right that instant. What the hell am I doing? Of course he can't read my thoughts!

"What? You keep staring," I told him.

"Oh. Sorry," he apologized, still looking fixedly at me.

Hmm. But what if he could read minds? That'd be interesting... Edward Cullen, if you can read my mind right now, stay. He didn't move. I laughed at my own silliness inside my head, but I couldn't wipe away a smile that came across my face.

"Is that all?" I asked. "Why are you still here?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted slowly.

"Okay," I said even slower, wondering if he understood that. "You should get back to your car. Your girlfriend looks a little antsy."

He turned around at my command and left the parking lot with Bella in the passenger seat. I saw Renesmee in the back with Jacob. I was surprised that Jacob wasn't one of them, since he was so involved with their family.

Michael finally arrived and instead of driving straight home, he told me that he'd take us both on a tour.

"You don't even know where you're going."

"Even better. That way, we'll know every bit of this place, and how to get out."

"So, why didn't you bring Stacy?" Stacy was Michael's two-month girlfriend. "She didn't want to come?"

"She couldn't. Her mom's in the hospital, so she said next time."

"Well, I hope I get to meet the lucky girl."

"You will, soon enough. Have you decided what college you're going to?"

"Ugh," I groaned. "Don't even talk about this."

"C'mon, Brooke," he urged. "College is important. You should at least know what you want to be once you're at that point. You're almost as senior."

"Michael, that's the thing. I don't know. I can't do anything to save my life, my grades are as ugly as Chad's face; I have no particular talent. Saying I have a successful future is like saying you're not completely clumsy. I can't even draw. I suck."

"You'll find out. Just don't go looking for it. It'll come to you."

"If I became a murderer—"

"No."