.
Almost everyone - except a few clueless boys - turned to look back at me. It was a stupid coincidence, and in any second someone was gonna ask him if he was a vampire. I held my breath as everyone remained silent, and he walked back to our desk noticing that everyone was still staring at me.
"Stupidest day ever," I breathed laying my head down. I didn't move until Mr. Banner called me, and I moved as quickly as I could to and from his desk. I sat extremely still in my seat, waiting for ...Edward, eh to make a joke or say something about my name. He stayed silent and I felt his eyes on me. When I glanced over at him, I found he wasn't staring at me but at my paper. I'd made random shapes and jotted down some lines from an Eddie Masen song with little flowers. I slid the paper under my book and looked away, really interested in the ceiling model of DNA. Stupid Eddie Masen obsession and stupid Edward Cullen.
Thankfully Mr. Banner droned on and on about the syllabus and lab safety. He shouldn't freak out so much because last year we all had chemistry where we could potentially almost-harm ourselves. What are we going to do, choke ourselves on onion cells?
When the bell rang, I jumped up and tried to leave in a hurry but unsurprisingly my books ended up on the floor. What did surprise me was that instead of moving past me, Ed…ward bent down to help me.
"Thaaaa..." I gaped when I met his eyes. They were bright green, and my heart seemed to stop beating completely.
"Careful," he murmured, staring back at me.
"Thank you," I squeaked, standing up and hurrying out the room.
In gym I was able to steer clear of any embarrassment as Coach Clapp allowed us to sit on the bleachers while some of the guys played volleyball, but I did notice more girls glancing at me. No doubt they were gossiping about my new lab partner Edward... Stupid book. Stupid movie - no one brought all of this up until they saw the posters with the hot actors - when all the girls in Forks decided to be literate.
After the last bell rung, I was assaulted by Jessica and even more stares.
"Bella, oh my god, everyone's talking about it! God you need a cell phone so you can text me!"
"What?" My stomach started to churn.
"Your real life Edward is handed to you as your biology lab partner! Just like in the book! It's like Mephenie Steyer looked into your future and wrote it down."
I felt like I was going to throw up, and I abandoned Jessica as I turned in the direction of the main office. I was going to make Mr. Marcus change my schedule. There was no way I was going to have Edward Cullen be my lab partner. If I did, there would definitely be big problems - more requests for interviews, more intrusion into my privacy, and more Twilight that I just wanted to go away.
I hurried into the front office and skipped behind Mrs. Cope's desk to Mr. Marcus' office.
"Ms Swan?" he raised an eyebrow at my entrance.
"I was wondering if I could change one of my classes..." I panted. "Please?"
"Alright," he turned to his computer and typing heavily against the keys. "Which class is it that-"
"Biology."
"Biology?" he frowned. "I'm sorry Mrs. Swan, but you can't change your core, especially your science."
"But couldn't you just this once," my voice squeaked. "Can't I be placed into a different class or I'll take it in the summer or I'll take it next year. Can't I take another elective or anatomy or something?"
"Anatomy is strictly a senior class."
"Yeah, so they can take it easy and color worksheets everyday!"
"I don't appreciate your tone, Ms. Swan. Now what's wrong with your biology class?"
"Nothing except I have my Edward but he's not my Edward and I don't want him to be Edward," I ran a hand through my hair, realizing how ridiculous I sounded. "Just… never mind, I'll just have to endure it. Sorry for wasting your time. I didn't mean to be rude."
I left his office and entered the main office to find Edward and Rosalie standing in front of Mrs. Cope's desk staring at me. Rosalie was giving me the stink eye and Edward looked at me as if I had slapped him. I gaped at them speechless for a long moment before putting my head down and racing out of there to the parking lot.
Could this day get any worse?
When I got home, I dropped my new books onto the floor and hit the power button on my computer before flinging myself onto my bed. I moved again when the computer dinged signaling that it was done booting up and waited impatiently as I tried to bring up youtube. I fell back onto my bed as Eddie Masen's voice crooned over the speakers.
If I give you a pink daisy
Will you stop making me crazy
Just say that you love, love, love me
And I'll plant you a love, love tree
My good mood was cut short by the shrilling sound of the phone. I grumbled as I stomped down the stairs and answered the phone. If my dad wasn't a police officer, I wouldn't even bother answering.
"Hello..."
"Um hi, is uh Isabella Swan there?" an unfamiliar but pleasant voice asked.
"Uh... Nooo, wrong number. Please stop calling here," I finished rudely. I felt bad as soon as I hung up. I didn't know any of these people and would never meet them, so it shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did. If only I could give them all pink daisies so they'd stop making me crazy... I turned off the ringer and went back upstairs to sulk with Eddie Masen. Dad will get over it if he even calls.
...
When I got to school the next day, I immediately found Edward Cullen and not on purpose. I'd been walking toward the school and I felt the need to turn around and glance behind me. He was leaning against a silver car talking to his brothers, but he was staring at me again. This time I forced myself to pull away from his gaze and hurried into the school to my locker.
"I used to think that I could not go on. And life was nothing but an awful song," Angela recited, coming up beside me.
"Maybe an awful voice," I joked as she continued in a lower voice and with a smile.
"But now I know the meaning of true love; I'm leaning on the everlasting arms... If I can see it, then I can do it. If I just believe it, then there's nothing tooo it. I-"
"Believe I can fly!" Ben added, behind us causing Angela to bump back into me.
"Ben!" she squeaked.
"Man, I love that song. Remember Space Jam?"
"N-no," she stammered, still embarrassed from being caught singing an Eddie Masen song. Except I don't think she realized it was a cover of an R Kelly song.
"No?" Ben sounded offended. "Oh man, Angela you're coming to my house this Friday to watch it after school. It was a staple of my childhood, and the reason why I'm so into basketball..."
I watched them walk down the hall, not caring that Angela totally forgot about me. I closed my locker and turned around, almost bumping into someone.
"Sorry," I looked up to see Edward and his brother, the big one with dark curly hair. "Sorry!" I turned on my heel before I could make a bigger fool of myself.
For the rest of the morning, I tried to forget all about my embarrassing run-ins with Edward and planned that I wouldn't look at him once at lunch... which I completely failed. He stood two people in front of me in the lunch line, and I couldn't stop staring at his hair. But I kept my head down as I walked to my table where Angela and Ben were flirting.
"So what kind of music are you listening to?" he asked, and I could just feel the waves of tension coming off of her. Eddie Masen was her music, and it was totally embarrassing because everyone was into rap or pop music.
"Better be classical," I lied. "She still hasn't given back that CD I let her borrow."
"Right," she nodded slowly. "I-I guess a little bit of classical and you know whatever's on the radio."
I spent the rest of lunch watching Angela blush and avoid embarrassing herself – completely Edward free until Jessica bumped into me.
"You know Edward Cullen was staring at you all through lunch..."
"No he wasn't," I shook my head, hoping he had and hadn't at the same time.
"Why didn't you tell me you've been flirting with him?" she asked with a ridiculous pout.
"Because I haven't, and he wasn't stare-"
"Oh yes he was because I was watching him! He is so pretty - they all are. It's so not fair... I wonder what's wrong with him?"
I somehow got to class before Edward, and I tried my best to not think about what could be wrong with him. Worst case scenario: he was a vampire and wanted to kill me. Worst case scenario that's plausible enough to occur …he was an attention whore and was going to rat me out to MTV. Then my situation would be all the gossip at Forks High multiplied, magnified, and amplified by a million. I would have to move back with my mother and get a private tutor, but then I could at least travel with Phil's team. Or I could go ahead and get my GED, get emancipated, and get my name changed to something that I don't even know. Or I could fake my own death. Good to know I've got a lot of Plan B's…
As more people filled the room, I was regretting the chicken sandwich and the chocolate chip cookie I ate for lunch. I kept rearranging my things on my desk, and I sat as close as my chair would get to the desk so that Edward would have plenty of room to get by. I shouldn't be feeling this nauseous. It's not like I did anything to him. I didn't yell at him or insult him or insinuate that he was my soul mate… I may have indirectly done all of those things.
I closed my eyes and rested my face in my hands and prayed that whatever was going to happen would happen quickly and as painless as possible.
I felt his presence before I heard his chair pull out next to me. I could also smell his amazing smell which wasn't the thick layer of Axe the other guys wore. I tried to stay as still as possible and slow my breathing so that I could hear what he was doing. He flipped through his text book and tapped his foot aimlessly. When I realized what I was doing, I quickly dropped my hands and sat up straight. Holy crow, I was a serious stalker. I glanced at him and found him staring at me. The burning feeling to say something was overwhelming and as soon as I opened my mouth, Mr. Banner slammed his door shut and pulled out boxes of microscope slides. Lab already? Kill me now…
It was a simple beginner's lab – sketch what you see, but I was still nervous about acting like a moron in front of Edward. It shouldn't matter; he'd already seen me trip and bump into people and stutter and ugh! Why was he affecting me like this? Because he was good looking? Way to be shallow Bella, good job.
"Um I'm Edward by the way…" he spoke, and I was beginning to panic. He turned to the microscope at the end of our table, and I tried taking deep breaths.
"Bella," I nodded, speaking in an almost hysterical tone.
"I uh… I tried calling your house yesterday…"
"You did?" my heart leapt out of my chest until I remembered that I turned the ringer off before Dad finally had it cut off. "Oh… sorry we had our line disconnected – too many prank calls."
"Oh well, um I think I may have talked to… someone?"
"Uh wh-what time did you call?" I stammered, already knowing that he was the one who I yelled at yesterday.
"Some time right after school. I-"
"I'm so so so sorry. That was me. People have been calling my house, and I don't want to talk to them – not that I don't want to talk to you. I just don't want to talk to anybody trying to make money off of me," I forced myself to stop talking.
"How would they be making money off of you?" he asked curiously.
"Because my name is Bella Swan and I live in Washington and I'm an extremely pale teenage girl. And now I've got a new bio lab partner named Edward who just happens to have a doctor dad and four other teenage siblings. You know that vampire movie everyone's talking about – Twilight? The main character is a girl named Isabella Swan and my life seems to be turning into that stupid book."
"Oh is that why you don't like me?"
"I?" I sputtered. He just stared at me waiting for an answer. "How could I not like you? I don't even know you."
"Well that's why I was calling yesterday. I couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong," he frowned, slipping a slide onto the stage of the microscope.
"I don't not like you. I was just trying to help you out too because once they find out that you exist, they'll start harassing you. Thank god your name isn't Edward Carlyle then I'd be forced to kill you," I joked.
"My dad's name is Carlisle," the left corner of his mouth lifted. "But it all sounds very ominous. They…?"
"Well reporters… they're something I do not want to deal with and especially for something stupid like having the same name as a character in a book. If it had been any other book, I wouldn't care, but those Twilight fans are intense," I tried to make myself sound less pretentious for all of my assumptions.
"I understand completely," he nodded, sketching onto his paper. "Have a look…"
I peered into the microscope, remembering we had actual work to do and tried my best to draw a plant cell.
"So you don't not like me?" he asked in a light voice.
"Right," I blushed. "I am really sorry for being rude. I didn't mean to be…"
"No, I was just confused. There's nothing to be sorry for," he smiled at me before switching the slides and looking into the lens.
That churning feel was in my stomach again, but this time I didn't feel like throwing up.
AN: yes those awesome eddie masen lyrics were original… I'm an awful poet, but I felt the sillier the better.
However I did have Angela sing R. Kelly's "I Believe I can Fly"
Thanks for Reading!