CHAPTER 18 – THEY'RE WATCHING

Coldplay – Major Minus

They got one eye watching you
One eye, what you do?
So be careful what it is you're tryin' to do
And be careful when you're walking into view
Just be careful when you're walking into view

A/N: Because of awesome fans that have gotten me to 100+ reviews...I worked hard to update quickly.

As suspected, the Cullens watched my every move and I did as I had already planned.

Ignore them.

At least none of the Cullens were in my first two lessons so Trigonometry and Government has been somewhat peaceful. Both Mr. Varner and Mr. Jefferson had set us on independent study so the students had remained silent through both hours.

A few congratulated me on my game with Edward as I walked to my other lessons and in response; I just smiled and continued on with my day.

In third period of World History, I could feel that Alice and Jasper were staring after me when they thought I was not watching but I simply acted oblivious to their scrutiny by concentrating on the research task that we'd been given by Mrs. Morgan.

Mr. Mason's English Literature also passed by quickly because we'd been set on an essay assignment that was done under exam conditions which meant complete silence as we wrote about Bram Stoker's Dracula in comparison to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

What an ironic lesson - humans writing about the supernatural not knowing that it surrounded them.

I was done with my essay within ten minutes so I began to read Tennyson's leather bound poems which I had bought from an old bookstore in Port Angeles. He was one of my favourite poets – he had been quite the gentleman when I met him and he'd actually given me an original copy of the book but everything had been lost in the fire.

My grip tightened around the book and I felt the threat of my anger but the shrill ringing of the bell pulled me away from my thoughts. Everyone shot out of their seats and began to pack up their belongings so I did the same in order to distract myself away from the darkening thoughts.

Looking to my left, I found that Angela was still writing as she rushed to finish her sentence and once she was done she dropped the pen on the desk, "Finished" she exclaimed with a pleased smile on her face as she too began to pack up her things.

I saw the teacher begin to stand as she collected the discarded essays on the empty desks before I then turned back to Angela, "Done?" I asked.

She rose up from her seat and inclined her head towards me in order to nod in reply as she placed her notebook into her bag."How was yours?" she inquired.

"It was alright" I replied nonchalantly and shrugged my shoulders. She hadn't noticed that I'd finished early as she was working hard on hers. I had no doubt that she would do very well in this assignment but she didn't seem as confident about it.

Pushing the chair under the desk, she turned to me to exclaim, "I'm hungry"

I laughed at her before nudging her side, "Let's go then". In response, she grinned and slung her bag onto her shoulder and placed the parka over her arm before following me out of the room.

"How did you find it?" I asked with the underlying intention to ease her worries.

She mirrored my previous actions as she too shrugged, "I think it went okay" she answered with ease but I could see the worry in her eyes.

"I'm sure you did very well"

"I hope so" she murmured while looking off into the distance, "I actually want to take Journalism in college" she revealed.

I glanced at her and replied, "That's great". It did seem like the perfect course for her as she was also involved in the school newspaper because I can remember when she asked me if I wanted to be a featured piece but I kindly declined.

"What about you?" she asked and it clicked that she was asking about college.

I hadn't thought about it but I should because if I planned to stay in Forks, I doubt I'd want to go to college although it would be good to keep moving around because that meant that it would be harder for them to track me down.

"I was thinking maybe Medicine", I answered, because it was something that I had already studied, perfected and enjoyed.

We entered the buzzing cafeteria when Angela asked her next question, "What profession?"

I thought back to the days when I had trained to be a surgeon for a while but didn't enjoy it as I thought I would because I found that it wasn't as interesting as I barely had contact with the patient. "Maybe a paediatrician" I replied truthfully.

Her whole face lit up with the revelation, "Oh, that's nice" she complimented me and I felt good about my answer knowing that she approved, "Are you good with kids?" she asked, sounding very interested with this career choice.

"I like to think so" I smiled and she seemed amused by my answer.

"I'm sure you'll be great"

We walked to the queue and she took a tray for herself before handing me one so I smiled in gratitude.

Once our trays were filled and we paid for our food, I followed her to the table that was occupied with Mike, Ben and Eric.

Unfortunately, Angela sat next to Ben and the seat next to her was with Mike so I braved myself with a defeated sigh before slipping into the seat next to him and watched as his face brightened.

"Good class?" he asked eagerly.

My answer was accompanied with a nod, "It was alright"

It appeared as though he had a stream of questions lined up but I was grateful when Angela pulled me into her conversation as she asked more about the college choice.

In mid conversation, Jessica and Lauren caught my eye as they made their way to our table. Jessica asked Eric to move a few seats down so that she and Lauren had a place to sit.

In a matter of seconds, Tyler rushed to the last seat and looked at me before doing his signature wink earning a glare from Lauren which I ignored.

"Miss me?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows but as I hitched my eyebrow and remained silent, he added, "Your silence speaks louder than words" winking at me again and I just rolled my eyes with a small smile as I turned back to my food.

The feeling of being watched was strong now as their multiple gazes burnt onto my back.

This time I was careful as I glanced at them but still they caught my eye and suddenly the two couples pretended to be interested in anything apart from me as their diverted gazes wandered the room.

All apart from Edward.

This time, I didn't duck my head or hide away from him; instead I placed my chin in my hands and stared directly at him, hitching an eyebrow as if I was issuing a challenge.

In return, placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward, staring straight back at me with those piercing golden eyes. He was taking my challenge.

What the challenge was? Neither of us really knew.

Yesterday probably plagued his thoughts and the fact that he couldn't hear me was undoubtedly making him even more curious.

His burning eyes continued to try and read me as he now knew that his mind reading power wouldn't really help him with me. A small crease on his forehead and his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to understand me by relying only on what he could see and hear. I could read a question in his eyes and it was as if he was tried to plead with me for an answer.

For that second I wanted to know what he was thinking so I decided to take the risk as I began to reach out to him but Angela broke me out of the act as she called me.

I blinked and turned to catch her knowing expression before she inclined her head towards Edward's direction and I felt the blush rise to my cheeks when realising that we'd been caught.

Glancing at Edward, I found that he too looked sheepish as he was now looked towards his pixie 'sibling' and it seemed that they were having a silent communication. About me?

I was distracted as I saw Tyler reach over and take a French fry from my plate and when I looked at him to scowl, he acted innocent as he asked, "What?"

Again, I rolled my eyes and began to eat my food while trying to fight the need to look back at the Cullens' table so I turned to Angela who had tapped my arm, "Hey, we were thinking about going to La Push in the weekend" she announced gesturing to her and Ben."You should come" she offered.

"We should all go, show Bella around" Eric piped in excitedly.

Although the proposal sounded normal which was what I needed right now, I had to decline, "I'll be working in the weekend", I explained and caught how Angela's expression fell slightly.

"Oh where?" Jessica inquired.

I could've ignored her but I decided to be the better person as I turned to her as I answered, "Cora's Diner"

"Ew" Lauren cringed in disgust but I just rolled my eyes at her. There was nothing I could do to help my case with her. Not that I really needed her in my life so it wasn't such a great loss.

"I think it's great" Angela praised me and I grinned at her. "Well congratulations on getting the job" she added happily and I was thankful and lucky to have a friend like her. "When do you get out?" she asked as she picked on her own fries.

"I'm starting at 11:30 and finishing at 5:00" I responded.

Angela nodded while Ben offered, "You could still drop by. We were planning on having a small bonfire at night" he informed me and I couldn't help but admit that the thought sounded nice – a peaceful night under the stars with normal human friends.

"I might" my answer earned a gleeful smile from Angela.

"Well I hope to see you there"

The rest of the lunch went peacefully as more plans transpired in regards to the weekend while I remained quiet and fought hard to not look over to him even though I could feel him watching me the entire time.

A/N: Your reviews always make my day and push me into writing more for all of you.

cecilia4059 – No Bella is not born into the 21st Century and neither is she human. Your questions will soon be answered and Carlisle will come in very soon. Your view of liking to see Mike suffer is slightly sadistic – I love it too… Thanks for reviewing.

Gracegoddess – My Edward is going to be much more expressive and will show his humanity so thanks for recognising that. Thank you for reviewing. Hope you liked this update.

Valentine Rain – I thought the Edward and Bella moment was also adorable. I wanted both Bella and Edward to be less serious in this chapter. Thanks for the review.

Pongu – I am deliberating over whether they will spend the night of the dance together. You'll have to wait and see…Thanks for reviewing,

griffindork93 – All will be revealed very VERY soon. The language is supposed to be Welsh. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Twilight Rocker – Thank you for love to the outfits. If you go to my profile, you can see the link to my blog where I've posted the outfits and the cottage. Glad you enjoyed the last chapter, hope you liked this one. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I thought that Bella did deserve at least one person she can trust. Thank you for reviewing.

A/N: Another MASSIVE thank you to my readers, followers and reviewers. I love writing for you guys and hearing from you.