The following Monday in school, I expected Edward to be his usual undefeated, stalkerish self, but was surprised to find that he actually seemed to avoid me. This of course pleased me beyond measure, and I went about my usual business without fear of bumping into him – God, I had almost forgotten what that felt like.

On the downside, Alice too was somewhat avoiding me at the moment, still apprehensive after my lashing out at her on the way home from the ball. I still hadn't said sorry for that and, to be honest, didn't really feel like saying it all. Unfortunately, I seemed to be alone in my belief that my reaction was well-founded. Maybe if I act like nothing, I thought to myself, it'll all go away on it's own.

Monday meant biology with Mr. Banner and I was curious to see how Edward would try and avoid me there, seeing as we shared the seat next to each other. To my surprise, he didn't show up at all, even though I had just spotted him in the cafeteria during lunch.

In spite of myself, I started wondering what was the matter with him. He hadn't been close enough to me all day for me to properly hear what he was thinking, and it frustrated me to not know what was going on in that reddish head of his. Was he planning something? Was he trying to get my attention by suddenly ignoring me?

To be honest, it wouldn't have surprised me.

I fell into a daydream for the the entirety of the lesson, simply ignoring the monotonous droning voice of Mr. Banner, talking about atoms and particles and what-have-you.

After school, I caught another glimpse of Edward in the parking lot and – for whatever reason – decided to approach him.

"Hey!" I called from behind him.

He turned and slowly met my gaze as I stopped in front of him. He seemed … less happy to see me than I had expected.

"You missed out on some pretty amazing biology today."

… bet that made you practically jump with glee, huh …

"Yeah, I …" he replied, "I didn't feel like listening to Mr. Banner at all today. Plus, I have a few extra credits from my old school, so it's fine."

"Oh. Good. 'Cause I kinda figured, you know … That maybe you were mad at me, or something."

In his mind, he snorted loudly – he actually snorted in his thoughts – but his face revealed nothing to me.

"Why ever would I be mad at you, Bella?" he asked indifferently, knowing precisely the answer to the question, but forcing me to say it out loud.

"'Cause …" I said quietly through gritted teeth. "Because of the … the ball thing."

… surprised you even remembered …

"Oh. That," he said sarcastically. "Well, you said it yourself; it's not your thing, and I should've known better. No matter. I've moved on now."

"Good. I'm glad," I replied for some reason.

"Yeah … I really have somewhere I need to be right now, okay? See you around."

And with those words, he jumped into his car and drove off, leaving me staring at the ground wondering what the hell was wrong with me.

I'm glad …

I'm glad? Why the hell would I tell him I was glad that he wasn't angry at me? In fact, I would have preferred it if he was angry with me. I would have loved the thought of having pissed him off so brutally that he never wanted to see my face again!

"Hey grumpy," came a sudden voice at my ear. "What was all that about?"

I turned to Emmet and threw him a disapproving look. Next to him was Jasper, with his hands deep in his pockets, but neither Alice nor Rose was anywhere to be seen.

"None of your beeswax, is what it was all about. Where are the other two rays of sunshine?"

"They went off to Seattle, to go shopping," Emmet replied. "And I was thinking the three of us could do some gaming. I still need to beat your ass at Soul Calibur IV, you know."

"How about it?" said Jasper.

For a moment, I stared in the direction Edward had driven off, but then turned back to my brother's, mustered up a smile and said: "Sure. But there will be no ass-beating from your side, Emmet, I can promise you that."