A/N: My sincerest apologies for not updating for a while. I'm sorry to say that the erratic behavior will probably continue for the rest of the month, given my moving woes. Still, I think this chapter is kind of fun, so I hope it makes up for it.
Much love to Hannah and I don't own any of this...
Chapter Eight
"Isabella Swan. So we meet again," Alice intoned, a twinkle in her golden eyes. Actually, come to think of it, her eyes were the exact same color as Edward's. Had I noticed that before?
"This time, it's personal," I replied darkly, arching an eyebrow across the table at her. In retrospect, she could have taken that entirely the wrong way, but after months of interacting with Angela, I had developed a tendency to respond to everything with a joke. When Alice arched her own eyebrow in response before emitting a rather disconcertingly bell-like laugh, I allowed myself a silent sigh of relief. At least the girl had a sense of humor.
Angela, seated next to me, gave me a brief jab in the ribs and a knowing nod before turning to Ben and starting a quiet conversation about a piece for the school newspaper. Edward, on my other side, looked decidedly uncomfortable. Alice and I, though, we seemed alright. And that made me feel a hell of a lot better.
I hadn't realized that she would be sitting with us. Of course, my lack of realization makes me, by definition, a moron, as she is Edward's sister and only remaining family member in school, and Edward always used to eat lunch with his siblings last year. The fact that I hadn't been expecting the sudden appearance of Alice Cullen at our table, his table, really, merely proves as a testament to the fact that I was so besotted by Edward's invitation that I hadn't considered the implications of said invite: to wit, I would be getting to know his sister a lot better. Initially, this scared the shit out of me. Luckily, Alice Cullen seemed to be a cool chick.
I resolved then and there to befriend her immediately. If anything, she would give me more insight into Edward's... more unique personality traits.
"So, Isabella- by the way, do you prefer 'Isabella' or 'Bella'?-" Alice asked.
"You can call me 'Bella.'"
Edward twitched at that.
"Brilliant. So, Bella, are you any good with math? I'm just abysmal with numbers."
"I'm not bad," I replied, shrugging noncommittally, wondering if that was the best she could come up with for small talk.
"Well, 'not bad' certainly trumps complete and utter failure. Is there any way I could convince you to tutor me, maybe? I mean, I know the year has only just begun, but I'm just desperate about my grade point average, and better safe than sorry, you know?"
Edward made an odd choking noise, but his sister jumped in again before I could ask him if he was alright.
"And, you know, maybe Carlisle could pay you, or something. For your time, I mean. And I wouldn't take up too, too much of your time. Maybe just a couple of days a week after school? Or weekends, if you prefer. Whatever's good for you. I'd be so grateful, Bella. Really. Please say yes?"
I looked around the table, stunned by the rather odd turn my lunch had taken. Alice was smiling hopefully at me, practically bouncing up and down in her seat. Edward seemed to be torn between glaring at the table in front of him and shooting daggers at his sister through his eyes. His hands were curled into the tight white fists I had come to know so well under the table, and the tension radiating off of him was palpable. Frankly, it was kind of adorable for some reason, though I can't fathom why his sister asking for math tutoring would piss him off so much. Angela just gave me another knowing smile before turning back to her boyfriend. And I was taking longer than was appropriate to respond to a simple question. So I gave the only answer that made sense.
"Of course, Alice. I'd love to. You don't have to pay me or anything. Don't be silly," I muttered, trying to sound sincere instead of sincerely awkward. I failed.
"Brilliant," her voice sang, and she gifted me with a couple more excited bounces in her seat before turning to her brother and winking. I don't believe I was supposed to see that wink, either.
"Alice, would you accompany me to the lunch line, please?" Edward asked stiffly.
"You already bought your lunch, Edward. Did you forget?" she smirked, twirling a lock of cropped, black hair around her finger.
"I'm in the mood for something else," he replied tersely, rising and pulling out his sister's chair before she responded.
"Yes, well, God forbid you should pick out a slice of pizza without my assistance. Lead the way, brother dearest," Alice trilled, smiling widely at me and rolling her eyes dramatically. She was the absolute opposite of Edward. And I loved her already. Even if she did seem a bit... off.
"What was that about?" Angela asked me once they were out of earshot.
"No clue," I replied with a shrug, noting that rather than entering the lunch line again, the siblings had exited the building.
"Whatever. Now you get to spend time in the Casa de Cullen. Be sure to take notes, Swan. People have been dying to get into that house since they moved here."
"Nobody's ever been to their house?" I asked incredulously.
"Nope," she responded, popping the 'p.' "I'm not even sure I know where they live."
"Huh. That's kind of weird. Not gonna lie."
"Well, you never know. They could be murderers. Or they could belong to a cult. Or they could be vampires."
"Definitely vampires," Ben chimed in, smiling.
"Why not all three?" I asked seriously. "A murdering vampire cult?"
"Or a vampire murdering cult. They could be like Buffy." Leave it to Angela to bring up a show that hasn't been on TV for years.
"Either way, that would mean there are vampires in Forks."
"Which is highly improbable, since Forks is the most boring fucking place on the planet."
"You've never been to Jacksonville," I muttered.
"So just murderers, then?" Ben asked, grinning through a mouth full of potato chips.
"Definitely just murderers. Possibly serial killers, but let's not get our hopes up," I confirmed.
"Hopefully they target useless boys with shit table manners," Angela added, smacking Ben on the arm.
"How else will we learn?" he asked.
Brother and sister stayed absent for about fifteen minutes, allowing Angela, Ben and I to speculate on the contents of the Cullen basement, the Cullen closets, and the Cullen attic. By the time we moved on to what might be buried in the Cullen backyard, Edward and Alice had returned, and Angela wisely busied herself with Ben once more.
Conversation, most noticeably, stayed away from all aspects of academia this time, and Alice proceeded to question me about my general proclivities.
"Favorite musician?" she asked.
"Hmmm... that's a difficult question. Can you specify? Like... genre?"
"How about your favorite composer then?" she prompted, leaning forward and, for some reason, glancing at her brother.
"Alice, I seriously doubt that Bella--"
"Rachmaninoff," I replied, cutting Edward off. "Well, Rachmaninoff when I'm feeling moody. Chopin when I need to relax. Debussy when I'm feeling ethereal."
Alice grinned at me before shooting Edward an I-told-you-so look, and I bristled for a moment at his attempt to save me from the question. Am I too stupid to listen to classical music or something?
"I prefer Puccini, as well. Though Mozart's operas have their merits," I added, feeling a bit smug.
Edward turned and looked at me, his expression a mixture of surprise and confusion.
There. Suck it, Cullen.
"Do you play any instruments?" Alice asked, her face full of interest.
"Are you interviewing me?" I responded.
"Yes," she replied simply before repeating her last question again, smiling broadly.
"I took years of piano lessons," I began, shaking my head, "but I was absolute shit at it. Can't play anything but Bach. I can play guitar passably well. And I'm... fair... on a cello."
Edward just stared at me some more, his mouth open slightly.
"I didn't know that, Bella," Angela said beside me.
"Yes, well, I don't really play anymore. I don't even have any instruments here. We sold the cello in a garage sale a few years back, and I let Phil keep my guitar when I moved. If Charlie hadn't helped pay for some of my lessons, he wouldn't even know. No big deal," I shrugged.
"So, what else can you do?" Edward asked quietly beside me.
"What do you mean? Like, can I leap tall buildings in a single bound or something?" I replied, confused by such a broad question.
"That's a great idea, actually. Why don't we go around the table and tell everyone what we're good at," Alice suggested, clapping her hands and bouncing again. Seriously, the girl had way too much energy.
"Wait. Seriously?" Ben asked when her eyes rested on him first.
"Of course."
"But--"
"Alright, let's clarify, then. How about things you've done for more than... say... two years?" Alice offered. "I mean, it has to be something you've done for a long time. Two years long enough for everyone?" She winked at her brother again and waited for objections before continuing. "Perfect. So, what've you done for more than two years, Ben?"
"Uh..."
"He's a great writer," Angela offered, stepping in to save her boyfriend. "Editor-in-chief of the school paper this year as well."
"Brilliant. I'm horrible with words myself. Words and numbers. Can't seem to get a hold of them. Anything else?" Alice asked.
"I used to play soccer. And... uh... I'm good with mechanical stuff. Fixing it, I mean," Ben finished, ducking his head. He had turned so red I was worried about spontaneous combustion.
"Well, that's useful. What about you, Angela?"
Leave it to my best friend to be unfazed by the Spanish Inquisition.
"I love photography," she began graciously. "I've been taking pictures for years. And I used to dance when I was little. I was obsessed with it."
"I used to dance, too," I cut in, surprised by the amount of things we clearly didn't know about each other. "Ballet."
"I was a tap girl, myself," Angie said, laughing. "I liked making noise."
"I think Renee was trying to teach me to be graceful. It didn't work."
The entire table laughed at that. Even Edward managed to smile.
"What else, Bells?" Angela asked, nudging my shoulder. "Aside from your musical talents and incredible grace, that is."
"I dunno," I replied, uncomfortable that I was being questioned again.
"What do you like to do, Bella? What makes you happy?" Edward asked quietly beside me, his eyes trained on the table again.
"I like to read," I offered lamely. "Reading makes me happy. I never liked dance, to be honest. I'm not a graceful person, and I was one of the worst in the class. I went home crying a lot."
Huh. I hadn't thought about that in years.
"Renee never really knew, though. She loved the recitals. She was always so proud of me... so I let her think that I liked it. I took ballet lessons for six years... and I hated it. What a waste," I finished, shaking my head. I was basically talking to myself at this point.
"What about the music lessons? The piano and the cello and the guitar?" Angela asked warmly.
"The piano lessons were on the suggestion of my dance teacher. She thought it might give me a better sense of rhythm," I snorted. "I mean, how ridiculous can you get? Renee could barely afford the ballet lessons, but she managed to get me piano lessons of top of it. Just to make me better. It just ended up being another thing I wasn't good at. I couldn't get my fingers to stretch. I never enjoyed the lessons. Any of it." I sat, pensive for a moment, oblivious to the people around me. I hadn't given any of this consideration for a long time. That part of my life felt like centuries ago.
"The cello, though... I really liked that. I wasn't bad at it, either. When I got into middle school, I joined the school orchestra, and they had me try a bunch of different instruments. I liked the idea of the string bass, but it was too big for me... I mean, it literally knocked me on my ass when I tried to hold it up," I laughed at the memory and registered some laughs around me as well.
"But the cello, that was perfect. And we got me a cheap one. Renee got me lessons again. Charlie even chipped in to help with them occasionally. I played all the way through middle school, but when I got to high school, there weren't enough students for an orchestra, so I stopped playing. We sold the cello when I was a sophomore. Now that I think of it, I kind of... miss it. It was nice, having something to practice, something to concentrate on, something that was mine."
I nodded once, twice, remembering how it felt to bring the bow across the strings, to spend hours trying to perfect a tricky piece of music, to pour all of my time and energy into something just because I enjoyed doing it. It had been lovely. The sound of someone across the cafeteria dropping their tray brought me back to reality, and I blushed as I realized the extent of the tangent I'd just indulged myself in. This was not "getting-to-know-you" conversation.
"W-what about you, Edward?" I asked lightly, trying to shake my embarrassment. Angela squeezed my leg under the table briefly in understanding.
"Edward plays piano," Alice responded for her brother, whose eyes were fixed very firmly upon the surface of the table in front of him. Honestly I didn't know if he'd heard me or not.
"Oh, really? That's great. I mean, I never knew that. What sort of music, Edward?" I asked, shocked that we may have had something, however small, in common.
"He plays classical, mostly, but he's also brilliant with jazz. And he composes as well," Alice continued as Edward sat in silence.
"Classical? Do you have a favorite composer?" At this point I was just trying to get him to talk.
Alice gave him some space to answer before giving up and continuing.
"He plays a lot of Rachmaninoff, actually," she grinned. "And Esme's favorite is Claire de Lune, so we hear quite a bit of Debussy as well, when he's feeling accommodating."
"Rachmaninoff? Really? You must be quite good, Edward."
"I get by," was his terse response, shaking his head minutely before dragging his gaze away from the table and up to my eyes, trapping me in his look. "We should get going. The bell is going to ring."
As though on cue, the bell did, indeed, sound, and we all went about the task of swinging our bags onto our shoulders and clearing away the remnants of our lunches.
"We never got to hear about your talents, Alice," Angela said as we all walked towards the trash can.
"Well, to be continued, then. We'll just have to sit together again tomorrow," Alice declared, bouncing on the balls of her feet and gracing us with a truly intoxicating smile.
Angela and I looked at each other, smiling, before turning and nodding our consent to the little ball of energy that was Edward's sister.
"Perfect," she trilled. "Oh, and, Bella?" she asked as I turned to leave the group.
"Yes?"
"Could you come over after school today? To help me with math?"
Everything froze.
Seriously, time stood still.
Angela looked at me.
Alice looked at me.
Edward looked... well, at Alice.
And I looked... well, at Edward. Which was unfortunate, because he was not the one addressing me.
"Sure, Alice. Not a problem," I replied after what seemed like an age, willing my voice to stay even.
"Brilliant. Edward will ride with you, and I'll drive his car home. I'm horrible at giving directions. Well, see you in pre-calc!" she called, halfway towards the doors and skipping.
Edward stared after her, his face a perfect mask of shock, and I'm sure my expression mirrored his own.
I was going to the Cullen's house today.
And Edward was driving with me.
A/N: Nothing like a murdering vampire cult to brighten a girl's day. Review, please. You know I'm lost without them.
