Chapter Five - (Don't be shy)

EPOV

Her lips form into a smile as she begins to stand up.

"Um, I've gotta go. So, I guess I'll see you later."

I wink at her, my mouth forming into my signature crooked smile. The blood rushes to her cheeks, and she smiles sheepishly before walking away.

God, she is so beautiful.

At the sound of Emmett pounding on my door, I'm startled awake from my dream of the last time I saw Bella; which I haven't been able to stop replaying in my mind. I groan, rolling over, and glance at my alarm clock— 12:30pm? Jesus Christ.

I drag myself out of bed, heading for the shower – I slowly begin to wake up, feeling my muscles relax under the hot water. My thoughts wonder towards Bella, trying to understand why she's so reluctant to talk to me or Alice.

When I first met her outside of the grocery store, she was friendly, chatting away, and cracking jokes. Now it's like she's trying to fade away into the background, not wanting anyone to notice her. I've never met anyone like her before, and I'll be damned if I don't get to know her better.

After I shower, I throw on a pair of black and red flannel pants, not bothering to put a shirt on. I walk downstairs, heading straight to the piano, my baby; I lightly run my fingers across the keys as I sit down on the bench. I press down, letting the music flow from my mind onto the keys. I don't know where the inspiration is coming from, but I close my eyes, getting lost in the new piece.

I could sit here all day playing my piano; it's like an escape, and nothing else matters but the melody flowing through the room. After my mom died, I went through a stage where I would only play depressing pieces, but as I began to get closer to Alice and the rest of my family, it bought me out of my stupor and I began to play happier pieces again— that made Esme extremely happy.

She hated seeing me so broken and upset— I couldn't help it though. I was a momma's boy, and when my mom died, a part of me died too. It was like I couldn't get out of the darkness. I was only ten years old; I didn't understand her sickness at the time, or why it was her that had to become sick and be taken away from me forever.

I remember my mother quite clearly; she had beautiful green eyes, and gorgeous long wavy bronze hair. She had two little freckles on the left side of her nose, and she was slender with light pale skin.

She was the most caring, selfless person you could ever meet. Was always helping people out, volunteering in homeless shelters, and donating our old clothes to the poor. She would even buy multiple meals and go feed the homeless on the street – Mom always used to say "If you want to help a person in need, don't give them money, give them food, water and clothes. That way they can't fall back into their old habits of drinking, or doing drugs."

Mom was even going to put her name down to start fostering children in need, but then the unenviable happened. On August 10, 2003, she was diagnosed with grade four terminal brain cancer. The doctors gave her three weeks to live, and she passed away six weeks later on September 24, 2003. She was always a fighter.

I remember when we lived in Highland Park; I would spend time with my mother before she had to go into hospital as she was becoming too sick. We would always go searching for little family parks, and have picnics under the tall trees. Every park she took me to was mesmerizing,

I gaze out the passenger side window as my mom drives along the streets of Highland Park, trying to find the perfect park to have our picnic in. She begins to slow the car down, eventually parking onto the side of the road. I look over to her, giving her a smile. She reaches her hand toward me, and strokes my left cheek.

"We're here, honey."

I unbuckle my seat belt and jump out of the car, running to my mother's side, opening the door for her. She gets out of the car, and kisses me on the cheek.

"You're so much like your father; such a gentlemen."

I feel my lips turn up into a grin and she smiles back at me, taking my hand in hers as we walk across the street I look up and gaze at the park. There's colour everywhere; multiple coloured flowers planted everywhere, trees with the greenest leaves I've ever seen, trees with beautiful blooming pink and orange flowers – I've never seen a place so enchanting.

"Wow," I say in fascination.

"Mom, this place is amazing! There are so many big trees to set up our picnic under!"

I hear her laugh as she ruffles up my hair.

"Why don't you go find a special tree, honey?"

I let go of her hand, running off to find the perfect tree, proving the perfect shade. I come across a tall beautiful fig tree, the roots winding around each other, looking like they've been twisted.

Mom begins to walk towards me; she stands about five feet away, staring up at the tree with a content smile on her face.

"Do you like it, Mom?" I ask her uncertainly.

"It's absolutely perfect."

She glances toward me. I close the distance between us, wrapping my arms around her waist and hugging her close to me. She kisses the top of my head, rubbing circles on my back.

"I love you so much, honey."

I pull away to look up at her. Her eyes are glazed over and a tear slips down her check. I reach up, causing her to lean towards me. I wipe away her tear, and look into her eyes.

"I love you too, Mom, forever."

She closes her eyes, and her lips form into a smile as she sighs.

The sound of footsteps pulls me out of my reverie. I open my eyes to see Esme standing in the hall, watching me intently. She smiles as she walks over, wrapping her arms around me.

"I love it when you play. It's like you were born to play the piano."

She pecks me on the cheek, then walks back out of the room.

I remove myself from the piano, walking into the living room and sitting in the arm chair. Jazz and Em are sitting on the ground, playing Mario cart as the girls sit on the couch, looking through catalogs and gushing over jewelry and other unimportant objects they want.

Emmett continually throws shells at Jasper's character, causing him to go flying into the air, and fall even further behind. Jasper begins to get frustrated with the game, and throws his controller onto the ground. He stands up and storms off upstairs, muttering about Emmett being an unfair player. I start chuckling and Emmett looks over to me with a grin on his face.

"He's such a sore loser. You wanna play, man?"

I hop off of the couch and sit next to Emmett on the floor. I grab the controller that Jasper threw, and begin to reset my character.

"He chooses the shittest character; that's why he always loses."

Emmett laughs, and Rosalie joins in. Alice stands up, throwing a pillow at me and Emmett. I look over at her to see her hands on her hips with her eyes narrowed.

"You guys are so horrible to him sometimes. Emmett, you are such baboon that never plays fairly. Jasper plays perfectly fine with me."

She turns her back on us, walking out of the room.

"That's only because you let him win, Alicat!" Emmett yells to her as she heads up the stairs.

We continue to play until we get sick of it, only to realize how late it had gotten from the darkness outside.

I head into the kitchen, and grab a bottle of water from the fridge as Esme walks in, giving me a polite smile before she speaks.

"Hey, honey. How was your day?"

I smile back at her as I walk over to the bench and lean against it.

"It was alright. I played Mario with Em after Jazz threw down the controls and stormed out of the room because he kept getting hit by Emmett's shells."

She chuckles as she opens the pantry cupboards.

"That sounds like an eventful day. I swear, one day you boys will become square eyed— you become so engrossed in your games sometimes."

She glances over, smiling at me. I smile back at her, laughing at her remark.

"Yeah, we actually only just stopped. I didn't realize how late it was getting."

Esme sighs, running her palm down her face.

"Damn. I forgot to grab the vegetables at the store today for tomorrow night's dinner. Would you mind heading down and picking some up for me?"

I kick myself off of the bench, grabbing my keys out of my pocket and walk over to her.

"Sure, I was gonna head out to fill up the Volvo anyway."

I plant a kiss on her cheek, smiling at her before I walk out to the car.

I head out onto the main road, driving into the gas station. I head into the store to pay, grabbing a packet of pepperoni and sausage pizza hot pockets as well. I'm telling you; whoever invented hot pockets deserves a gold medal. My mouth waters just thinking about them.

I drive out of the station, heading towards the grocery store. As I turn the corner into the cold section aisle, I see Bella standing in front of the dessert section. My lips form into a smile, and I head towards her.

"Hey, Bella."

She spins around abruptly, clutching her chest with a shocked expression on her face.

"God, Edward. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

I smirk at her as her cheeks become flushed, and she looks back toward the freezer.

"Sorry. How's your weekend?"

She glances over at me, and I give her a polite smile. She sighs, biting her bottom lip.

"It's fine. How's yours?"

She begins to walk away, and I follow after her.

"Boring. Esme asked me to grab her some vegetables for dinner tomorrow night. I don't have a clue what she wants, though."

A small smile plays at the corner of her lips.

"What's she making?"

I quirk my eyebrow at her, and her cheeks flush red again.

"How am I meant to know? I think she said something about a stir fry though."

She laughs lightly to herself and heads over to the fridges, opening the door and grabbing something out before handing it to me.

"Get this. Its mixed vegetables; they're great for stir fry's."

As I take the bag from her, our hands lightly touch and I feel a slight electric shock at the touch.

"Uh, thanks. You seem like you know your food."

She smiles a genuine smile, and begins to bite her bottom lip again; someone's got a bad habit. I chuckle at my thoughts, and she gives me a peculiar look.

"Yeah, I've uh, been cooking since I was ten. Well, I have to go now. So…"

She turns to walk away.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll see you at school then."

I call out to her, causing her to turn back around.

"Don't be shy to accept Alice's invitation to sit with us at lunch either. She's only trying to be your friend. And we don't bite, I promise."

I wink at her before walking away to pay for the vegetables.

I grab a bottle of coke on my way to the cash register, and I notice a tall, slim, blonde haired girl looking way too happy to see me.

"Hey, Edward."

I keep my face blank, not letting my confusion show on my face; I have no idea who this chick is.

"Uh, hey."

I give her a polite smile, handing her the vegetables and bottle of coke. She begins to giggle, smiling back at me.

"Lauren."

I look behind me, but no one is there. Who's this Lauren she's talking about?

"Sorry?" I ask her in confusion.

She laughs and points to her name badge.

"My name— it's Lauren. We go to the same school."

Oh. I don't recall ever seeing her, but that could be because I was focused on, uh, other things. I laugh to myself, causing her to raise her eyebrow at me.

"Oh, sorry. I've only been here a few weeks; I don't remember many people."

She rolls her eyes at me, annoyance replacing her happy mood as she places the vegetable into a plastic bag. Yeah, that's real great for the environment.

"You seem to remember Isabella Swan perfectly fine."

She practically spits the words with venom at me. She clearly doesn't like Bella. God only knows why. She's beautiful, funny, smart, and stubborn as all hell, but that just goes to show she's a strong, independent person.

Lauren looks at me expectantly, and I realize it probably looks like I was ignoring her.

"That's because I mether before I started school."

A look of disgust washes over her face. She glances behind me, and then smiles evilly.

"Well, Isabella is a loser. You shouldn't associate with her, or you'll get a bad rep. She has no friends."

Why does she keep emphasizing Bella's name? I narrow my eyes at her, causing her smile to fall.

"Bella seems perfectly cool to me. And to be quite honest, I don't give a shit what my rep will become. I don't need stuck up bitches sucking up my ass, telling me who I should and shouldn't be friends with. I can make my own decisions. I'll associate with whoever I want. And my sister, Alice, and I are friends with her, so you're clearly delusional about her having no friends."

Lauren looks at me with a horrified expression on her face, continuing to glance behind me. I turn around to see what she's looking at, and find Bella standing there, watching the whole confrontation. I smirk at her causing her to blush. She looks me in the eyes and mouths the words "thank you" before Lauren clears her throat; annoying me even more than what she already has. I look back at her, raising my eyebrow.

"Um, that comes to four dollars."

She looks everywhere, but at me. I place a five dollar bill in her hand and turn around to see that Bella has gone.

I drive home and as I pull into the driveway, I see Alice sitting on the stairs. I get out of the car, locking it up before I then head up the stairs to sit beside her.

"Hey, Ali. Everything alright?"

I ask her with concern. She rests her head on my shoulder, winding her arm through mine and sighs.

"Yeah, I just don't know what to do about Bella. I mean, she actually started to talk to us the other day, but maybe she was just in a good mood? Or maybe we just aren't meant to be friends?"

I look over at her, and for the first time in her life, she actually looks defeated. She looks up to me with a sad look in her eyes. I smile at her, and lift her chin up.

"I saw her at the store tonight. She didn't shy away then either. Some Lauren chick was mouthing off about her, saying how much of a loser she is when she knew Bella was right behind me,"

Alice's face turns into a look of alarm.

"Don't worry Alice, I put her in her place. Just ask Bella to sit with us on Monday. She'll accept this time,"

I smile at Alice and her eyes light up immediately, a grin forming on her face.

"Really? How do you know?"

She looks at me expectantly, and I chuckle at her obvious excitement to become friends with Bella.

"I just know,"

I stand up, smiling at her before I ruffle up her hair. She whacks my hand away, and I laugh as she tries to hit me as I run up the rest of the stairs.

As I walk into the kitchen, I see her head into the living room, cuddling up to Jasper on the couch. I place the vegetables in the freezer, and the bottle of coke in the fridge. I head up stairs and call into Esme's room to let her know I'm back.

I push the door open and see her reading. She looks toward me and smiles.

"Hey, Esme. I put the vegetables in the freezer down stairs. I'm just gonna head to bed,"

I can't help but smirk at her; she looks so cute and motherly in her reading glasses. She rolls her eyes and smiles at me again.

"Thanks, honey. Goodnight. I'll see you in the morning,"

I smile at her before closing the door. I head up the stairs to my room and push the door open. I gather my school books, putting them in my bag to save time in the morning.

I change into my briefs, and collapse onto my bed, letting sleep and beautiful dreams of Bella over take me.

A little glimpse of young Edward for you :)

I got my computer back! Well, a new one. But it's still being shit. So i'm posting this one early, just in case it stuffs up again. An d because my bestfriend is coming to see me tomorrow, so i might not have time to post. A huge thanks to Jenndur, my Beta. You're amazing bb! :)

-Natalee-x