The next day was insane. People at school literally swarmed around me. Tyler was the hardest to discourage though. He literally was a step behind me everywhere, unless I had a different class than him. Mike was getting noticeably irritated. If I hadn't been so annoyed myself, I probably would have found Mike's behavior funny, but as it was, I really just wanted Tyler to leave me alone. And of course, Edward got no recognition or annoyances whatsoever, no matter how much I tried to give him the credit he had coming. But, I think he was slightly more intimidating to the general population than I was.
As I sat down to lunch, with Tyler on my left side, and Mike on my right, Jessica glared angrily at me. This was going to be a fun day. Angela arrived at the table, looking very frazzled.
"What's wrong, Angela?" I asked, anxious to get Jessica's laser eyes off of me. It worked, thank goodness. Angela sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"I swear, the back-to-school dance planning is just not working out! I mean, we have a DJ, but the dance committee is NO help whatsoever! I'm the oldest member, and I can't figure out a theme, or decorations, or…" her voice trailed off. Jess's eyes immediately lit up.
"Ange, we can definitely help you! Right Bells?" I looked at Jess dumbfounded. Dance was not in my vocabulary. "When's it supposed to be, Ange? Together, we can get it done!" I sighed. I had a feeling I wasn't going to get out of planning this. Not if the tone of Jess's voice was any indication.
"Yeah." I said, attempting to pump some enthusiasm in my words. "We can definitely do it. When's it supposed to be?" Angela sighed.
"This Friday. We have less than a week." Now, I was excited. That was the day of my birthday. If everyone was distracted by the dance, there was no way they could celebrate my birthday. Jess's enthusiasm kept increasing by the second.
"Then what the sam heck are we waiting for?? Let's go plan this right away!" She hopped up, with me and Angela in tow. I couldn't say I was exactly upset to say goodbye to Mike and Tyler. Angela had an amused expression on her face.
"Jess, where exactly do you expect us to be going? You don't even know where the dance committee meets." Jess stopped.
"Oh." She looked confused. "Then where do we go?" She said it in such a clueless tone of voice, that me and Angela both looked at each other and just laughed.
"Come on, Jess." Angela said, going in the direction of the library. We entered and she brought us into a spare room that had a closed door. We took our seats around a table. "So. What ideas can we use for the dance? Remember, it has to have a style of dress, so everyone knows what to wear, and something we can get decorations for at a somewhat cheap price." Jess furrowed her brow, and got up and started pacing. I thought to myself for ideas as Jess and Angela tossed ideas back and forth.
"Disco? We'll have disco balls and retro decorations…" Jess said
"Where are we going to get a disco ball and retro decorations on such short notice? Next." Angela was no nonsense about this job.
"Red Carpet? Long gowns and tuxedos, fake awards" Jess looked slightly more excited about this one
"We don't have one." As Jess shot out suggestions, Angela quickly shot them down; not out of cruelty, but of practicality. There really wasn't a lot we could do on such short notice. Finally, I had an idea.
"Moonlight in September?" They looked at me curiously. "Hold on, let me explain it. It'll be calm, elegant. Semi-formal wear, which gives a lot of leeway to everyone. Decorations will be twinkle lights and some of it could be on the football field under the stars, since the gym is right next to the football field." Angela tapped her pencil on the table.
"That wouldn't be too expensive…we already have twinkle lights…and if it's semi-formal, then people could dress up or down…this could work.." She smiled. "What do you think, Jess?" Jess nodded her head
"Moonlight? Totally romantic! We can dress up and look cute…I love it!" She finally smiled at me. "Awesome Bella!"
"So it's settled." Angela was already planning things in her head. "We'll make the flyers right now, and they'll be up around the end of the school by the end of the period." True to her word, we designed the flyers, copied them, and hung them around the school after quickly getting approval from the principal. By the time the bell rung, Angela wrapped me and Jess in a huge hug "Guys, thank you so much. I honestly had no idea what to do for the dance. You guys have been a HUGE help." We hugged her back.
"No problem, Ange," I said, adapting Jess's nickname for her. "You want us after school Friday to help decorate?" She nodded eagerly. "Okay, we'll be there right after school, and then we'll leave. You guys will have a blast at the dance." Jess narrowed her eyes.
"What makes you think you're not coming?" I shrugged. "Bella, you are COMING. In fact, we'll go to get dresses tomorrow night."
"Lovely." I muttered under my breath.
"What was that?" Jess asked, not hearing me fully.
"Nothing! Um, can I bring a date from like, a different school?" Jess and Angela turned towards me.
"Yes…who is it???" Jess asked excitedly. The warning bell for our next classes went off. "Shoot. Well, you're talking about this tomorrow after school when we go shopping!" she said as she and Angela went off to their next class as I went off to Biology. As I got into my seat, Edward Cullen was there, his chair turned towards mine gently.
"Hello, Bella." He said in a quiet voice. I looked at him carefully. His voice didn't have the worry that it did yesterday, but it did have an edge of concern.
"Hi Edward. Thank you again for…yesterday." He nodded.
"So…" he seemed to be trying to make conversation. "How are you doing today?" he seemed uncomfortable, but I couldn't really think of why.
"I'm…fine. You?" He actually pulled out a full-fledged smile. I couldn't remember a time where I had actually seen him smile with emotion.
"I'm feeling…" He was searching for words, "I'm feeling sentimental." I quirked an eyebrow up at that, and he laughed gently. "Just remembering things I haven't felt for a while…" I nodded my head, and Mr. Banner started the class. It was a lab day, which meant I was going to have to talk to Edward throughout the period. I couldn't really understand why Jake had said to stay away from Edward Cullen. He seemed…nice, even though tribe legends said he was a vampire. Which, I amended, could very well be true…after seeing the way he had raced across the parking lot, and had seemed to stop the van. Before I could dwell on that topic much longer, Mr. Banner started to pass out the materials for the lab. Edward turned to me.
"Well, shall we get started, partner?" He resurfaced his dazzling smile, and I sat, momentarily at a loss for words. This was going to be an interesting period.