The Learning Curve: Chapter 27

Forks High School

By the time I got to lunch, I was ready to crawl into a hole and die. Even shy Angela Weber had asked me about my new relationship, although with a genuine happiness for me that I found refreshing compared to the inquisition I'd received from Jessica and Lauren. They'd cornered me in the bathroom between first and second period, and they refused to believe that Edward was actually my boyfriend or that we'd not yet had sex. The worst thing was that every guy in school suddenly seemed to think I was some hot item. If I had to fend off one more advance from Tyler Crowley, I might blow a gasket.

It was a relief to sit down with Alice and Jasper, who gave me sympathetic, albeit amused, smiles.

"You've really done it now," Alice said, shaking her head.

I sighed and turned to my salad - it had been so hard to resist the pizza. "I don't want to talk about it."

The chair beside me pulled out, and I only needed my nose to tell me it was Edward. I looked to him in astonishment.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

"Eating lunch with my girlfriend," he said with an easy smile. "Hey Jasper, Alice."

"Hi, Edward," Alice said like she'd seen this coming all along. I narrowed my eyes at her. Had she seen this?

"Edward, it's nice of you to pretend for my sake, but you don't have to sit with me," I said, ignoring our audience. I didn't know what Jasper was thinking, but I figured Alice would explain it to him, if she hadn't already.

"Yes, I do. We have to be convincing or else everyone will think I'm using you for sex."

I refrained from pointing out that I was technically using him for sex.

"But don't you want to sit with your friends?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Not really. Now that Emmett and Rose are back together, all they do is suck face."

Well, he had a point there. Rose and Emmett were notorious for their PDA, and for their on-again-off-again relationship.

"Pizza?" Edward offered, holding out his plate to me, even as he stole a cucumber from my bowl. It was cheese pizza. It was like he already knew my weaknesses.

I sighed and took it from him. "Yeah, okay."

A/N: Tomorrow is EPOV again. :)