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CHAPTER FIVE

Bella

The following day was wet and rainy. I hadn't expected anything less.

Once again relieved that my truck had yet to show any faults which would prevent me from driving it, it didn't take me long to arrive at the school only to catch sight of the yellow school bus parked a few spaces away.

I sighed; spending time on a noisy bus wasn't appealing in the least.

Shutting my door I jumped when I turned around only to catch sight of Mike, a nervous looking Mike which I knew couldn't be good.

"I, uh, I wanted to ask you, if you-uh…"

Yet again feeling the sensation that I was being watched I looked up only to catch sight of Edward standing a few yards away. He wasn't with his family, but I knew they wouldn't be far away. They always seemed to be together, the fact they were close making me feel slightly envious of what they had.

Charlie and Renee were family, but I wouldn't go as far as to say we were close in our parent-child relationship. I knew I was lucky though, I didn't know why they were adopted and clearly they had it worse than I did.

It made me even more curious about Edward.

He was wearing a long grey coat and a dark shirt, similar to what he was wearing yesterday when I saw him in biology. I glanced down at my own outfit; I doubted our price ranges were alike in any sort of way.

Clearly Mr Cullen and his wife were incredibly wealthy.

His skin seemed even more pale, his eyes dark, but it was the way he was looking at me which caused a sensation I wasn't used to. I felt…beautiful, adored and for the life of me I didn't know the reason why. He was only looking at me for goodness sake!

"….so, what you think?"

I winced when I realised I had completely zoned out while talking to Mike. I shook my head, trying to clear the haziness which seemed to cloud over my mind.

"About what?"

If anything he seemed more nervous. I felt bad. "So you want to go, to prom, with me?"

Internally, I was kicking myself for not seeing it sooner. I didn't do prom, I didn't do dancing or the dressing up or the attention. It just wasn't me. Mike was sweet, kind of creepy in a leering sense, but I knew he didn't have any bad motives.

"Oh," my eyes widened, and for some reason I couldn't help but think of Edward. Would he care if I said yes? I wasn't going to, but as soon as Mike had approached me he had paused, his head tilted to the side as if he was listening. But he was too far away to hear anything, right?

"Prom…" I continued. "Dancing, not such a good idea for me. I'm also going to be out of town, Jacksonville, but you should ask Jessica, I know she wants to go with you," I tilted my head in her direction where she was talking to Mr Banner.

He stared at me. "Really?"

I stifled the urge to roll my eyes, why were boys so oblivious to everything?

"Yea, plus she'd kill me if I said yes" I teased, thinking it was the best way to let him down gently.

Thankfully it worked. When Mr Banner called us over Mike went straight away to Jessica, looking at her as if he was seeing her in a new light. At that I did roll my eyes, knowing he wouldn't be leering at me as much but at Jessica instead.

I highly doubted she would mind in the least.

As Mr Banner hurriedly gestured us to get on one of the two buses I couldn't help but take note that it wasn't the one the Cullen's were on. I hadn't seen Edward's reaction to me turning down Mike, but it wasn't like he had any idea I had anyway.

I shook my head, like I even had a chance. I needed to put those thoughts out of my head before I really embarrassed myself.

The bus ride thankfully wasn't as long as I thought it would be, but then again the compost centre seemed to be located in Forks and Forks wasn't exactly big.

Arriving at the building like greenhouse I soon found myself feeling bored. It wasn't that biology didn't interest me, but looking around a bunch of plants and the smell of compost invading my senses wasn't exactly an appealing experience.

Catching sight of Alice and Jasper I couldn't resist seeing if Edward was with them, not knowing how he had managed to put me under his spell. Though unlike Jessica I would not be embarrassing myself by asking him out, she said he didn't date and it was something I believed was in fact true.

I bit my lip when I finally caught sight of him; he was literally standing in front of me. He hadn't been there before…

Geeze, my observing skills really did suck.

He surprised me by asking, "What's in Jacksonville?"

I stared at him, but continued walking. "How'd you know about that?" I swear he was too far away to be listening, and yet it was the only way for him to know I had told Mike it was where I was going. I hadn't even mentioned it in any other situation.

"I, uh, you didn't answer my question" he swiftly pulled the attention off my own.

"Well you didn't answer mine, I mean you don't even say hi to me!" I clipped out before closing my eyes in embarrassment. Did I really just say that to him? That he didn't say hi to me? God, I sounded pathetic.

"Hi," my flush deepened as I shuffled behind the rest of the class, wanting to put some distance between us. Being in his presence made me feel strange; I didn't know whether I liked it or not.

"Floridians, that's what's in Jacksonville" I managed to get out before I just had to humiliate myself further my tripping over air.

He surprised me yet again by lightly gripping my arm, preventing me from falling on my face. I shuddered at his touch, and I wasn't talking a small shudder, no a full body one which had me almost humming out in delight, again.

His fingers gripping my forearm were firm but far from painful, and I swore I felt his thumb brush small circles against my long sleeved before he rapidly let go. I stared at where his hand had been, tingles running up and down my arm, similar to the sensation of pins and needles, though much more pleasant.

Well, it was nice until his whole demeanour seemed to change. "Will you at least watch where you're going?" he snapped.

Jerk I thought, putting some space between the two of us.

I knew he was too good to be true; he was too good looking to be the gentleman I had originally taken him for. It sucked that I wasn't the best judge of character.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you looked at it, his apology seemed sincere.

"Look, I'm sorry I'm being rude all the time, I just think it's the best way-"

I stared at him, who could think being rude to someone was a good thing?

"Bella," I soon saw Jessica rushing up towards me. I was relieved for the distraction. "Mike just asked me to prom!" she spoke gleefully, her smile faulting just slightly when she caught me talking to Edward but otherwise she seemed pleased that she wouldn't be going alone. "I actually thought Mike was going to ask you, urm…it's not going to be weird though, right?"

Did she actually think I was interested in Mike like that? "No. You guys look great together."

"I know right," she grinned. And that was that.

I didn't see Edward for the rest of the trip and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. While I found myself, not quite craving but feeling more relaxed in his presence when he didn't make things awkward, the fact he thought it was ok to be rude to me didn't sit right with me.

When it was time to leave I smiled slightly when I saw Mike and Jessica together, she may be a bit of a bitch but I wasn't so morbid that I didn't want to see her happy. Plus, it didn't make me feel so bad that I had turned Mike down since he seemed pleased enough with having Jessica as a date.

Seeing the buses I made my way over to them, the day finally being over. Personally I thought it was a waste of time, but I guess it beat spending the day sitting in a classroom going over work that I had already completed before.

I turned around when I felt someone rapidly approaching me, frowning slightly when I caught side of Edward's almost predatory walk. It gave me the shivers, but not in a bad way.

God, this was all so confusing.

"Bella," he made me pause. "We shouldn't be friends."

Pursing my lips I continued to walk. "You really should have figured that out a little earlier."

The intense look I got in return made me squirm, his eyes darker than their usual golden glow as he took a half step towards me. I was once again reminded of just how much he towered over me.

"You don't know anything," he spoke slowly.

I shook my head, no longer in the mood for his conflicting emotions. Why was he trying so hard to talk himself out of being around me? Was I that unappealing that he was trying to let me down politely, or at least without being completely honest and calling me out on it? It didn't know whether to be annoyed or relieved.

"Hi," Alice seemed to just appear. "Are you going to be riding with us?" she asked brightly.

"No, our bus is full" Edward clipped out before I even had the chance to reply.

I stood there stunned, not knowing whether to be hurt or unsurprised by his almost harsh denial of wanting to be in my company.

Before I knew what I was doing I was calling his name before he got on the bus. When he looked around, surprise evident on his too perfect features, he raised a brow.

"I agree, let's not be friends."

I turned around and was getting on the bus before he had the chance of reply. If he didn't want to be friend's then that was fine by me, I would simply make it easier for him to prevent that from happening.

But I couldn't help but wonder, should it really hurt this much?

~( )~

I left for Charlie's zas soon as our bus pulled into the parking lot, Mr Banner having told us if we get back early then there was no point in sticking around for a half hour since by the time we all got settled it would be time to leave again.

The other bus seemed to have been caught in traffic and I was relieved. I wasn't as foolish to think that what I had said to Edward would matter much to a guy like him, but it made me feel relieved that even if he did want to talk to me he would have to wait until after the weekend.

It would be enough time for me to cool my emotions, hopefully.

Going to the First Beach turned out to be a lot more fun than I first thought, Mike and Jessica being all over each other while Lauren sat by and sneered at the both of them. It wasn't hard to see the jealousy which burned in her eyes; the fact that Ben clearly wasn't interested in her as well didn't seem to lighten the mood at all.

The day ended, however, in the emergency room even if it wasn't me being the one in pain this time. No, it turned out Mike really couldn't surf and ended up belly flopping, hitting the water hard enough that the whole side of his face was a glowing red.

Jessica flipped the fuck out, panicking and waving her arms around, though she was more worried about how he was going to look in the prom photo's than whether he was actually hurt or not.

Talk about being vain.

So it wasn't a surprise that all of us were sitting in the waiting room, Lauren tagging along on the pure bases of trying to flirt her way into Dr Cullen's pants if what I heard was correct. I cringed; he was happily married for Christ's say, why would you want to ruin that?

I knew the chances of it actually happening were slim, but that didn't excuse the fact she was slutty enough to want to break up a family without a care in the world. Not even Jessica was that bad.

Hearing my brick of a phone go off I sighed, slipping it out of my pocket before looking at the caller ID which read Station.

"Charlie?"

"Hey Bells, what time are you going to be home tonight? It's just I was going to spend some time around Billy's, if that's ok?" he asked almost hesitantly.

"You don't need to ask my permission, Charlie" though I couldn't help but compare him to Renee who would have simply not given me a single heads-up. I may have gotten a note if I was lucky; it was Phil who usually gave me text saying he was with her. "And I'm at the hospital-"

I realised my mistake as soon as I said it. "You're at the hospital? What's wrong? You need me to leave and come down there, you just say the word and I'll-"

"It isn't me, Mike fell off a surf board and we're waiting to have his face checked out."

I heard his sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that, Bells. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know so you don't cook for me or anything."

"Please don't eat junk food," I knew it wasn't good for his diet. He was the Chief of Police, he needed to stay in good shape for his line of work.

"I won't," I could picture him rolling his eyes.

Hanging up I sighed, leaning forward as I rested my elbows on my thighs before dropping my head to face the floor. I was tired, annoyed and frustrated with Lauren who seemed to be checking out every male doctor who walked past.

"Ah, Isabella, isn't it?"

Looking up I felt myself blush when I caught sight of who just had to be the Carlisle Cullen I had heard so much about from Jessica, Angela and Lauren. He had equally pale skin and the same golden amber eyes that I couldn't help but do a double take.

Was he sure he and his adoptive children weren't related? They all seemed to look scarily the same, too beautiful for what's considered normal.

"Bella," I corrected without thought. "I prefer Bella," I added, seeing his confused look.

He smiled charmingly. "Very well, Bella. My son, Edward, talks very fondly of you."

I stared at him. Were we talking about the same Edward? The one who had snapped at me before telling me that he didn't want to be friends and to basically not go near him?

"Anyway," he continued. "You must be Mike then," he turned to face my red faced friend. "It doesn't look serious from what I can see, but I can take a proper look at you to calm your worries."

"I'll come," Lauren jumped up while Mike rose to his feet, looking completely out of place and nervous.

I rolled my eyes, smiling when Dr Cullen told me that I looked a lot better than when he first met me. I guess it would be an improvement since I wasn't unconscious with a bloody and bruised nose.

Slouching back in my seat I leaned back before closing my eyes, the past two days having taken a lot out of me. I wasn't used to the drama, and so far in the first week of attending Forks High I had more drama in my life than my whole time spent in Phoenix.

I doubted it was a good thing.

"Bella?"

Looking up I frowned when I caught sight of familiar pale skin and dark piercing eyes.

"Edward? What are you doing here?"

"My father works at the hospital," his answer making me want to slap myself, duh.

"Oh right," I shifted awkwardly. Why was he even talking to me?

It was quiet until I felt him take the seat next to me. I resisted the urge to lean further towards him but refused to dwell on the reason why.

"Did you mean it?"

I sighed. "Mean what?"

"That you do not want to be friends."

I fought back the urge to pull out my hair in frustration. Did he have sort of condition which resulted in memory loss? It would explain a few things.

"If I remember correctly Edward, you were the one who told me it was best if we weren't friends. I was simply making it easier on you."

Glancing to my left I jumped slightly when I realised how close he was. He was still looking at me intently, dark eyes and all.

"I said it was for the best," he looked away. "I did not say it was what I wanted."

I didn't know how much of this cryptic shit I could take. "Can you tell me what you want, Edward? To be honest, your emotions are kind of giving me whiplash."

He was quiet, and the next thing I knew he was standing up and walking further into the hospital. The staff didn't even bat an eye-lid at his presence, clearly used to him being around because of his father. Charlie had told me how lucky the hospital was to have such an advanced and experienced doctor, it was clear they didn't want to rock the boat which could result in him leaving.

I didn't blame them.

By the time I was driving home I couldn't help but think back to mine and Edward's conversation. What I managed to grasp from him was that he wanted to be friends, but he thought it best that we weren't? It was confusing.

Shaking my head I sighed, not wanting to dwell on it but not being able to let it go. Perhaps I would take Angela's and Jessica's offer to go to Port Angeles with them. While I didn't have any desire to go to prom, so didn't need a dress, I could check out the local book stores.

Sending a text to Angela telling her I was up for it, I went to bed feeling half dead to the world and tired to the bone.

And I dreamt of pale skin and amber eyes.

Well…what do you think? Good?

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