CHAPTER 5
"And, when I graduate high school, my mom and dad want to try to get me through college." The driver smiled. Bella had discovered his name was Edward. "But, that's enough about me. What about you?"
"What about me?" She wondered.
"Well, for starters, your name would be nice."
"Oh. Um... my name. It's Bel-"... Um Belle."
"I like it. It sounds so... Unique." He smiled again.
They had both eaten and were sitting in a booth talking.
"So, tell me Belle, after tonight... will I ever see you again." He looked right at her and smiled.
"I'm not sure..." she replied. "I'm a- I mean I- I don't come to the city much." She looked up to see that his smile had faded. "Oh- but, um, I-I might be... coming here more often."
"That's great!" he said, his smile returning. "Well, I'm not going to be here all the time. I just got a job at the castle."
Bella almost choked on a sip of her water. She struggled not to spit it out on Edward.
"Are you okay?" he asked her, concerned.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. Um... ice slipped down my throat before I could...
"You sure?" he asked to make sure.
"Yeah, fine... Um, excuse me, would you. Nose-powdering time..."
"Sure."
Bella got up and walked quickly to the restroom. Once there, she studied her face in the mirror. How was she going to keep him from finding out she was the princess? She didn't want him to know. This was the first real friend she'd made who didn't know about her... place in life, her "status". And besides that, she was starting to almost like him. He was nice, saving her from those thugs. He was cute.
She glanced at a clock on the wall. It was 10:00. 'Wow.' She hadn't known it was this late. She suddenly remembered Alice waiting at home. And the guy she'd sent to pick her up.
When Alice found out... She stepped out of the bathroom then and re-thought her plan. Maybe she could call Alice and tell her she was all right. She remembered the flashing numbers that shone on her phone in the alley.
She stepped over to the pay phones and called. "Hello?" she heard a tired voice on the line after a few rings.
"Hey Al."
"Bella? Isabella! Where are you? What happened?" She sounded angry, as Bella knew she would. "I sent Jasper out after you and he came back with nothing! I've been freaking out for well over three hours!" She paused for a breath.
"Al, listen-"
"Your dad's worried too. He-"
"You didn't tell him did you?"
"No. But Bell, he sent guards out! He thinks maybe you were kidnapped somehow! He's got everybody looking..."
"Al, I'm coming home in just a while, ok. Here's the new plan."
10 minutes later she returned to Edward. "Sorry," she apoligized, "There was a bit of a wait."
"It's ok. It's getting kind of late though, can I give you a ride home?"
"Sure. I'm uh, supposed to meet my dad at the castle. He... works there too."
Edward paid for their meal and they stepped out into the cold night air. Bella shivered a little.
"Are you cold?"
"Hmm? Oh, just a little. I'll be fine." A few seconds later she felt something cover her back.
"Here. You'll be warm in this."
'He lent me his jacket?' Bella thought. "Oh, thanks. But really, I'll be fine..."
"What was that?" he asked her as he opened the passenger door of his car. "Sorry I didn't hear you."
"Oh, I said um... 'thank you'."
"No problem. We should probably be going though. I wouldn't want your dad to worry."
"Yeah."
She slid in and Edward shut her door. Then he got in the driver's seat.
Jasper was waiting outside when they arrived. "Well, I guess I should be going." Bella started to leave. "Oh wait, your jacket." She began to take it off.
"No, hold on to it. Never know when you'll get cold again." Edward smiled. "And um, one more thing before you go? You never answered my question. Will I ever see you again?
"Sure. When?"
"Maybe this Saturday. There's a club in town called 'Blue Moon.' I hear it's pretty popular. I'll be free around six if you wanna go."
"Yeah, that sounds like fun!"
"Belle!" she heard Jasper call.
"Oh, I better go. But, yeah, I'll be there!"
"Ok, well, I better be going too. My new job starts tomorrow. I'll see you later."
"Bye." She hopped out of the car and waved.
Jasper led her back through the castle and up to her room. "Ok," he told her. "I'm supposed to tell your dad that I found you in town somewhere, right?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah."
Jasper left and a few minutes later, her parents came in. Her mom checked her over to be sure she was okay. Her dad waited a minute before he spoke.
"Isabella, I'm glad to see you're all right, but I have to admit, I'm a bit confused. Why would you run away? You're happy, aren't you? You've got a good life. You have pets. You've got friends. What prompted this sudden rebellous behavior?
"I'm not going to marry Jacob!" Bella told them defiantly.
"But the wedding's set for next month!" her mom exclaimed. "Invitations were sent today!"
"Isabella, everything is set for you to be married. We're not going to change our plans now. Prince Jacob is a fine young man. You two are going to be married next month and that's final!"
"But-"
"Don't argue dear." Renee said. "I'm sure you'll have a wonderful life with him."
"But he-"
"That's enough!"
Bella sighed. "Yeah, ok."
"It'll be ok dear, you'll see." Renee promised as they left her room. "You should get to sleep now."
Bella leaned back on her pillows. Today had been a good day- the first since the engagement announcement.
"So," She looked up to see Alice standing in front of her.
"Hey Al."
"Don't you 'hey Al' me! Where were you, how did you get away from those thugs and who were you with?" she waited two seconds, and started tapping her foot. "Well?"
"I was-"
"Don't you know I was worried sick? Jasper came back and told me he couldn't find you, there wasn't even a trace of you except..." she held up Bella's mangled cell phone.
"And there were skid marks!" she went on. "Bells, I thought I lost you!" She grabbed her best friend up in a tight protective hug.
After a minute, Bella felt something warm on her face. Alice was crying.
"Oh, Al... I'm so sorry. Edward took me to dinner and I lost all track of time and..."
"Edward?" Alice lifted her head to stare at her friend. "Who's Edward?"
"He's the guy who saved me from the thugs. He says he's phychic and can hear their thoughts, but I don't know, he couldn't hear mine. I guess he was just in the right place at the right time. He took me to dinner and we talked a bit. We're going to go to Blue Moon this Saturday, so you'll have to help me sneak out again.
"Is he cute?"
"He's mega-cute! And he's sweet. He lent me his jacket.
"Ok, but I'll only let you go if I can get you a new phone and you absolutely swear on a stack of 'Twilight' books that you'll be the most careful you've ever been in your entire life!"
Bella looked quizically at her friend. "Twilight?"
"A book series I've been reading. It's pretty awesome. They're by Stephanie Meyer and...
"Ok, ok! Just spare me the details of your romance novels!"
"It's not entirely romance!" Alice said, there's the horror element." She stuck her tongue out. It's not my fault you only read baby books."
Bella tossed a pillow at her friend. It landed on her head. "Oh, it's on now!" Alice said, mock anger on her face. Grabbing the pillow, she ran at Bella, hitting her head with it. "How do you like it? How's it feel, huh? Here, have another. And this one's for running away!"
Bella grabbed another pillow and soon, it was a full-fledged pillow fight. After a few minutes, they both fell back on the bed and collapsed in a fit of giggles.