Chapter Ten Notes: Back to English class, but we're moving out of the classroom soon enough…

CHAPTER TEN: Interview

My mouth hung open as I tried to decide if I was angry or flattered that Edward thought Dartmouth would even consider admitting someone like me. I opted for anger, simply because it was the easier of the two emotions.

"What the hell is this?" I picked up the application and forcefully slammed it down on Edward's desk. It made a distinct slapping sound when it abruptly met the Formica.

His arms remained folded in front of him as his lips curled into an irritatingly dazzling smile. "That would be your ticket out of here. You can thank me later." He picked up the packet of paper, quickly reached his arm across the aisle, and placed it in front of me.

"The tuition alone is more than my parents make in a year. No thanks."

"Suit yourself." He directed his attention to the in-class assignment Mr. Berty was circulating.

I was not in the right mental state for a pop quiz. For the first ten minutes of class, I stared into space, wondering if Edward just wanted to dispose of an extra copy of the application he kept in his locker. He didn't seem the type to go out of his way to help some girl in his English class who he tried his best to ignore.

I forced myself to pay attention to the barely touched essay in front of me. As I described Juliet's tragic flaw, pressing my pen so hard into the paper that it nearly tore, a high-pitched buzz filled my ears.

"Pencils down, people. Looks like someone is playing with the fire alarm." Mr. Berty made no attempt to conceal his sulking over the interruption.

My classmates looked relieved as they excitedly filed out of the classroom. Ahead of me, Angela and Ben were already deep in conversation. I crossed my fingers that one of them would make a move soon; it was obvious to everyone that they liked each other. Mike tagged along next to me. We were certainly no Angela and Ben, but I wasn't sure he knew that. Ever since I'd told him the day before that I wanted to work in his parents' shop, he'd been shadowing me like a starving puppy.

"… so if you want any help prepping for the interview, I can totally come by after school and we can go over strategy." He'd likely been talking to me for several seconds, but I was so preoccupied with keeping my cast dry in the misting rain that I'd tuned him out. I felt guilty that he'd been nice enough to get me a shot at a part-time job, but I didn't want to encourage him, an impossibly easy feat when it came to Mike.

"Actually, Jake and I have plans. I think he's going to drop me by at eight." The interview was later that day, after Mrs. Newton closed up shop.

"Oh. Cool." His lips turned downward as he glanced across the courtyard where Conner and a few others stood in a circle. "Well, if I don't see you, good luck." He shuffled over to the group of our classmates, leaving me alone under the eave of the gymnasium roof.

The fire truck still hadn't arrived, and I was certain that Mr. Berty's quiz was a lost cause. Yards away, Edward stood alone, staring off in the opposite direction. Taking a deep breath, I limped over to him, deciding it was about time I acted like an adult.

Though my approach made plenty of noise, he kept his back turned. I cleared my suddenly tight throat. "Hey."

He took a step backward and turned to face me. "Hello."

I didn't look at him as I spoke. "Look, I'm sorry I was a jerk earlier. You were just trying to help. I overreacted."

"No, you didn't." His voice was almost grave. "It wasn't my place."

Inexplicably, his statement bothered me. I opted to ignore it. "It's just that I don't even have a chance of getting into a school like that. Plus, there's the money issue." I didn't want to know if he was looking at me, so I just kept talking. "And anyway, I would be utterly miserable without—" Stupidly, needlessly, I stopped to correct myself. "Without my family and my friends."

Somewhere during my babbling, our eyes met. He smiled dryly. "Without the boyfriend, you mean."

I nodded, too aware that there were no secrets in Forks. "Yeah."

His words rang with conviction. "If he makes you happy, then you're making the right decision."

I smiled without feeling. I simply could not figure him out. "Thanks."

We stood in silence, watching the light drizzle fall from the sky. I should have walked away, but something compelled me to keep him company. The student body treated Edward and his sister like lepers, and I was fairly sure that even rich, flawlessly beautiful people got lonely once in awhile.

"So, do you miss Alaska?"

His head jerked up in surprise, probably caught off guard that I still hadn't left him alone. "What?"

"You are from Alaska, right?"

He fixed his eyes on me. "Not originally. But, no, I don't miss it at all." His irises were darker today, but not quite the shade of black that told me he wanted nothing to do with me.

"I guess when you have brothers and sisters, moving isn't that bad." I realized he probably wasn't lonely at all, or at least not as much as I'd been when I first came to Forks.

"Usually, each place we leave is fairly identical to the next. After awhile, you don't long for what you left behind."

"Wow. That sounds… awful." I bit my tongue, regretting my inability to censor myself around him. "Sorry, that was rude."

I noticed then how his hands were balled into fists, yet he seemed at ease talking with me. "I think it's not as dull for the rest of my family. I find it taxing at times, but I'm just harder to please, I suppose."

I thought of Jessica's statement in the cafeteria on that fateful first day of classes. "He seems like a total jerk. That's probably why he's the only one of them that's alone." Certain that I was headed into forbidden territory, I murmured, "Maybe it's because they have each other. I think it's easier when you have someone, you know?"

I should have thought of Jake then, but I was too nervous about Edward's response; I always blurred the lines with him, getting too personal for a casual conversation between two people who were barely acquaintances.

Edward, however, just pursed his lips and avoided my gaze. In the distance, the fire department had finally arrived.

Eventually, he spoke softly. "I don't usually have a problem being alone."

I was slightly shocked that he answered my question and didn't appear the least bit angry. I took this as a good sign. "I used to think that, too. I'm an only child, so I was alone all the time."

"But not anymore." He slowly exhaled. I knew we'd both come to the same conclusion, but I felt uncomfortable discussing Jacob with Edward.

My philosophy was that Jacob and I existed in our own universe, so it was wrong to bring in outsiders. We knew what we were to each other, and I didn't need to justify that to anyone else, especially Edward.

Minutes had passed, but Edward's words still hung in the air. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just blurted out the truth. "Why is it that every conversation we have is weirder than the last?"

He looked amused at my bewilderment. "Weirder? How so?"

I moved my head so he couldn't see the ruddy shade of pink on my cheeks. "You know what I mean." He never struck me as oblivious. "I talk about the strangest things with you. You must think that I'm insane."

He let out a musical laugh. "Actually, I find you fairly interesting." Leaning against the brick wall behind us, he continued, "I have difficulty reading you."

I scoffed. "Seriously? There's not much to me. I kind of wear my emotions on my sleeve." I hated that about myself, especially in moments like this one. "Anyway, you're the one who is impossible to read."

He ran a hand through his hair. "I disagree. On the contrary, I tend to give too much away."

I groaned. "See, that is exactly what I'm talking about."

Edward simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

In spite of myself, I smiled back. Talking to Edward was quite enjoyable, even if he did tend to speak in riddles. Against my better judgment, I wondered if it would be possible for us to become friends… Not close friends, but at least the kind that spoke to each other every once in awhile in the hallway.

His smile faded as he stared at something off in the distance. "I think it's time to go inside."

At some point during our conversation, the fire department apparently declared the fire alarm false. Now, they started to pack up, but plenty of students remained huddled outside, wanting to miss class even if it meant standing in the rain.

Edward started to head off behind one of the outbuildings but paused before he could vanish entirely. "Are you going to be alright with that cast?"

Only then did I notice that the rain had begun to come down in sheets. "Oh please," I scoffed jokingly, "I'm a pro at this."

He raised an eyebrow and flashed a crooked smile. "If that were the case, you wouldn't be in this situation in the first place."

I blushed. "I guess that's true. But don't worry, I'll be fine." As I spoke, I felt as if we were being watched. I squinted through the downpour and saw Alice Cullen thirty feet away with her head curiously cocked and an expression of pure fascination on her face.

The interview with Mrs. Newton proved to be a mere formality. When I arrived at the shop, she opened the door looking haggard and beyond grateful to see me.

"Oh, Bella! I am so excited that you're interested." She spoke in a rush as she closed down the cash register. "We've been severely understaffed, but I haven't wanted to hire any of Mike's friends; they're just too rambunctious." She mumbled something along the lines of "boys will be boys" while she locked the drawer.

"I don't have much experience, Mrs. Newton, but I'm a pretty fast learner." I was throwing out every interview cliché in the book and it made me feel like kind of a schmuck, but I was desperate. "Besides, my cast comes off in two weeks, and I'll be able to do a lot more."

She waved her hand, signaling me to stop. "Oh, no worries, dear. You're Charlie Swan's daughter; I have no doubt that you'll be a model employee."

I couldn't think of a response, so I just smiled sheepishly.

"Mike can start training you next week, if you'd like." She put her hands on her hips as her eyes darted around the room, looking for a task she'd missed.

It took me a second before I figured out what she meant. "So I got the job?" I struggled to keep my voice calm.

"If you want it." Mrs. Newton beamed at me while she ran a broom along the entryway.

"Definitely!" I couldn't keep up the cool professional demeanor any longer. "Thank you so much."

"You'll love it here. The clientele is wonderful. We have a lot of regulars, just super guys." She exhaled as she finally sat down on a stool. "They tell the best stories. You'll have to ask Joe about the time he dropped his car keys into Lake Crescent." She laughed at the memory.

In speaking with Mrs. Newton, I understood where Mike got his innate ability to talk up a storm with anyone he met. I grinned at her attempts to persuade me into taking a job I already wanted.

"It sounds great, Mrs. Newton. I do love a good story." Charlie and his friends were always regaling tales of their adventures in the wild; I never thought "chatting up outdoorsy middle-aged men" would be a marketable skill, but now I almost wished I'd listed it on my résumé.

"If you like stories, then you should ask Mark Crowley about his camping trip last weekend. Now that's one of the best ones I've heard in a while." Mrs. Newton shook her head in jest. "He claims that he saw some sort of yeti-like creature in the forest. I think that poor man spends too much time alone in the wilderness, but I have to admit, that story is one for the ages."

"A yeti?"

"Some big hairy thing. Probably just a bear." She flipped the light switch. "So how does next Monday sound for your first day? Four o'clock?"

"Sounds great." I was thrilled about the job, but a part of me was still hung up on Mr. Crowley's yeti.

Mrs. Newton ushered me out of the store, locking the door behind us. As I headed to where Jacob was waiting for me in his car across the street, something in my head clicked.

I pushed my crutches to full speed and excitedly pulled open the passenger door. Jake beamed at me as I shoved my crutches into the tiny backseat. "So did you get it?"

"Oh, yeah." My voice held little of the excitement it had inside the store; I was no longer interested in repeating my good fortune, for the wildest theory dominated my thoughts. It was time to test my hypothesis. "Jake," I asked hurriedly, "do you believe in Big Foot?"

"What?" He burst out laughing. "What kind of interview questions did she ask you in there?"

"I'm serious." I knew how ridiculous I sounded, but the circumstances surrounding Sam's disappearance were just as ludicrous, so there was certainly leeway for the absurd.

"No, Bella, I do not believe in Big Foot." He struggled to keep a straight face.

"Look, Jake, I can't come up with a reasonable explanation for what happened to Sam. The whole thing with his car never leaving Seattle, him screaming in the woods for no real reason… Maybe something crazy is the only explanation."

He placed a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down there, Scrappy Doo." I scowled, but he continued, "The thing with Sam is definitely weird, but maybe he just lost it. He was stressed with classes and the beginning of the swim season, and, if I know Leah, she's probably been nagging him about marriage. I bet he just went nuts, starting hitchhiking back to the rez, and then just had a mental breakdown in the woods."

Folding my arms in front of me, I huffed, "Big Foot has been sighted all over the U.S. It could happen."

He started the engine and nodded. "Sure, sure."

I knew I was needlessly obsessed over the brief disappearance of a mere acquaintance, but if I had to choose between losing sleep over Edward Cullen and the mystery of Sam Uley, for the sake of my sanity, I'd pick Sam any day.

Chapter Ten End Notes: I hope this wasn't one cryptic Bella/Edward conversation too many, but I need to lay a foundation for certain events down the road. Edward and Bella need to get to know each other first, so that's my current plan. I promise, more action is coming up, but it wouldn't be believable if certain events happened out of nowhere. Thanks again for the reviews and for sticking by this story!