Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Stephenie Meyer and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: I'm so sorry for the lateness of this chapter! Last month was a hectic one for me, as I had problems with my health issues which required me to have minor surgery. I am feeling better now, though. I hope to get out another chapter for this before the end of the month, but I don't make any promises.

As always, I hope you enjoy,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~full moon~

~chapter 4: invitations~

In my dream it was very dark, and what dim light there was seemed to be radiating from Edythe's skin. I couldn't see her face, just her back as she walked away from me, leaving me in the darkness. No matter how fast I ran, I couldn't catch up to her; no matter how loud I called out, she never turned. Troubled, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep again for what felt like a very long time. After that, she was in my dreams nearly every single night, but always on the periphery, never within reach.

The month that followed the accident was uneasy, tense, and, at first, embarrassing.

Perhaps I should preface first that it wasn't all bad. A little more than two weeks after the accident, I went to visit Sam and Emily at their little house in La Push. Just the act of going to the reservation after so long made me tense, and hence why I visited them specifically first rather than going to one of the stores or, even worse, Billy Black's house.

Sam was at work when I got there, but two people who I wouldn't have otherwise been expecting to be there were, sitting at the small dining table eating muffins like it was the most ordinary thing for them to do – and I should also say it perhaps would've been, had they not been shirtless and very much different from how I last remembered them.

"Well, well, well, look who it is," Paul snarked as Emily led me into the kitchen. "Miss Bella Swan."

Paul Lahote was one of the only two teenagers at the reservation who was the same age as I was and not a few years younger or older – the other one was Jared Cameron, who was sitting at the table as well. More than Rachel and Rebecca Black, Billy Black's twin daughters who were the same age as Sam, Emily, and Leah Clearwater, I'd been friends with them during my time up here as a youth. It was always more of a casual thing, because I was a girl first and foremost, and not to mention an introvert.

In the months since I had seen them last, as I said, Jared and Paul had undergone a radical change. They'd always been tall, but each of them seemed to have grown six inches in height, although that had to be impossible for even teenaged boys to do in such a short time. They'd put on muscle, too, enough for them to have six-packs. And Jared's hair was cropped short, much shorter than the consistently shoulder-length he'd always had it.

"...Hi, Paul. Hey, Jared," I managed to say after reorienting myself to this brave new world, one where the two idiots I'd known all my life had seemingly grown up overnight.

"Cat got your tongue, Bella?" Jared teased me, mirth – but also relief, and for a reason I wasn't sure I understood – shining in his eyes. "Or, should I say – "

Emily reached over to slap his hand away from the muffin plate. "Be nice," she warned, her eyes flaring. "And give Bella an opportunity to have some before you eat them all."

"Sorry," I apologized as I sat down. I took a muffin off of the plate, but only the one, and gestured for them to go back to helping themselves. They did eagerly, acting as if this was their first meal in days. "You guys have just gotten...tall. And apparently developed a distaste for shirts."

Paul snorted. "That's one way of putting it."

Jared, meanwhile, gave me a weak smile, something which wasn't usually like him. "What have you been up to lately, loca?" he asked me. "It's been a while since we saw you last."

I told them about school, carefully leaving out any mention of the Cullens. After Sam's reaction to Edythe in the hospital, I felt dissuaded to, an opinion I only felt bolstered in when Jared and Paul made no attempts to ask about them. Instead, I regaled them with stories of Mike, Eric, Angela, and Jessica, a modified version of the car accident (they both found Tyler's reactions hilarious), and how bored I was with the curriculum up here.

"You know, you could always come to school here on the reservation," Jared said conspiratorially in response to this, winking.

Laughing, I shook my head. "It's boring, but...I like Forks High School," I replied. "I have some nice friends."

Paul leaned forwards in his seat. "Are you sure it's not because of more than that?"

I thought he was joking due to how he phrased it, but with his tone...I wasn't so sure.

Regardless, Emily came to my rescue. "Paul," she warned.

That tabled that part of the conversation.

Interestingly, when I asked Jared and Paul about what they had been up to, they gave me lackluster responses. "Oh, this and that," Paul spoke, brushing me off. "School. Work."

"Same," agreed Jared.

"Oh, you guys have jobs now? What do you do?"

They told me they were both working together to mow lawns.

For some reason, I didn't believe them.

Sam came back home not long after, which led to Paul and Jared saying their goodbyes. I had dinner with him, Emily, and Levi, and brought home a plate with me for Nonna. "Don't be a stranger, Bella!" Sam reiterated to me before I left.

"I won't."

But this first dip back into La Push was pretty much the only highlight of my month, to get back to my original point.

To my dismay, in that week after the accident, I found myself the center of attention at Forks High School. Tyler Crowley was impossible, following me around, obsessed with making amends with me somehow. I tried to convince him what I wanted more than anything else was for him to forget all about it – especially since nothing had happened to me – but he remained insistent. He followed me between classes and sat at our now-crowded lunch table. Mike and Eric were unfriendly to him, but for what I felt like were different reasons: Mike because he knew I didn't like the attention, and Eric because he seemed to think he had gained another competitor in a race he wasn't actually playing.

No one seemed concerned about Edythe, though I explained over and over again how she had been my heroine in pulling me out of the way and nearly getting crushed, too. I tried to be convincing. Jessica, Mike, Eric, and everyone else always commented on how they had never seen her until the van had been pulled away.

I wondered myself how no one had seen her standing so far away before she'd been suddenly, impossibly saving my life. With chagrin, I deduced the most probable reason was that no one else was aware of Edythe as I was. No one else watched her the way I did. How pitiful.

Indeed, no one was asking her for her version of events. People avoided her and her siblings as per usual. They sat at their same table like they always did, not eating, talking only amongst themselves. Edythe didn't so much as glance at me anymore during lunch. She only talked to me when it was absolutely necessary in Biology too, obstinately remaining as far from me as the table would allow.

But I suspected she wasn't as oblivious as she wanted me to think when I saw her abruptly ball up her fists, her skin stretched even whiter over her bones.

She wished she hadn't pulled me from the path of Tyler's van – that was the only conclusion I could come to.

I very much wanted to talk to her, and the day after the accident I tried. When I had seen her outside the ER, when we had talked, we had both been so furious. I was still angry she wasn't telling me the truth, even though I was keeping my part of the bargain flawlessly. But she had saved my life, no matter how she had done it. And, as I was sure my father would say, had he still been alive: one, "you can't squeeze blood from a turnip," even if that idiom wasn't exactly applicable, and two, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

She was already seated in Biology during my one attempt, looking straight ahead. I sat down, expecting her to turn towards me. She showed no sign of recognizing that I was there, although I knew she had to.

"Hello, Edythe," I greeted her pleasantly, to show her that I would behave myself.

"Hello," she replied.

And outside of when it was a must for her to, that was the last time we spoke. I watched her sometimes, unable to help myself – on the sidewalks that served as our hallways and in the cafeteria or parking lot, but always from a distance. I watched her golden eyes grow perceptively darker with the passing of the days, only to suddenly go back to that butterscotch gold without explanation. But I didn't try to strike her up for conversation anymore than she did me. It made me miserable. And the dreams continued.

When a month had passed and the last of the snow had washed away, making Mike's plans for a snowball fight impossible but his other ones for a beach trip more plausible, Jessica made me aware of another event on the horizon. She called me on the first Tuesday of March to ask if I intended to ask Mike to the girls' choice spring dance in two weeks.

"Are you sure? You really weren't planning on asking him?" she persisted when I told her I didn't mind in the least. "You two are awfully close."

"I don't like him in that way," I answered. I didn't tell her I was pretty sure he didn't like me in that way either...or any girl, for that matter. I didn't want to dash her hopes or crush his in the event that I was wrong or right; it wasn't my place to. "And no, I'm not going."

"It'll be really fun..."

"You have fun with Mike," I encouraged.

The next day, I was surprised when Jessica wasn't her usual gushing self in Trig and Spanish. She was silent as she walked by my side between classes, and I was afraid to ask her why.

My fears were only strengthened when we got to lunch. Jessica sat as far away from Mike as possible, chatting animatedly with Eric. Mike was unusual quiet.

He was still quiet as he walked with me to class, the uncomfortable expression on his face a bad sign. But he didn't broach the subject until I was in my seat and he was hovering near my desk. As always, I was aware of Edythe sitting close enough next to me to touch, and yet so far away at the same time. She was distant enough to almost be written off as a figment of my imagination.

"So," Mike said, looking at the floor. "Jessica asked me to the spring dance."

"That's great." I made my voice bright and enthusiastic. "You'll have a lot of fun with Jessica."

"Yeah..." He returned my smile with a strained one as he looked up, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I told her I had to think about it."

"Why would you do that?" I didn't let disapproval completely color my tone, keeping it curious and mostly open.

It seemed to be what he needed. "I was thinking about going alone," he confided in me. "I mean, if you'd asked me, I would've said yes, but..."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Edythe's head tilt reflexively in our direction.

"I'm not going to the dance at all," I went to Mike.

He nodded bittersweetly. "Yeah, I figured that. Where are you going?"

It occurred to me that he wasn't necessarily asking me because he wanted to know – he was giving me an out to other people if they asked. I was very thankful for that, even with it leaving my mind scrambling to come up with a reason.

"I'm going to Seattle that Saturday," I decided. I needed to get out of town anyway – it was suddenly the perfect time to go.

"Sounds fun." Mike exhaled. "So, do you think I should go with Jessica? I haven't wanted to say anything to her so I don't hurt her feelings," he made his voice go low as he said this part, leaning down so that he was saying it to me specifically, "but she's not exactly my type."

Confirmation, then.

It made my heart happy and sad at the same time: happy that he'd known he could confide this in me, but sad that we lived in a town where he knew he couldn't be comfortable with himself.

"I think you should. Just tell her you're going as friends," I said. "And don't make her wait any longer – it's rude."

The beam he gave me was bright enough to light up the classroom. "Thanks, Bella. You're the best."

"Anytime."

The bell rang then with perfect timing.

I was aware as I tried focusing on the lecture of something unusual occurring in my peripheral. When I turned, I saw that it was Edythe, who was staring at me openly and curiously, that same, familiar edge of frustration even more distinct in her now black eyes.

I stared back, surprised, expecting her to quickly look away at being caught so obviously. But instead she continued to gaze at me with probing intensity. There was no question of me taking my own advice. My hands started to shake.

"Ms. Cullen?" Mr. Banner called, seeking the answer to a question I hadn't heard.

"The Krebs cycle," Edythe answered, seeming reluctant to look away from me and to our teacher.

I looked down at my book as I was released from her eyes, trying to find my place. Cowardly as ever, I shifted my hair over my right shoulder so that I could hide my face. I couldn't believe the rush of emotion pulsing through me – just because she looked at me for the first time in a half-dozen weeks, I was reduced to a mess. I couldn't allow her to have this kind of a hold over me. It was pathetic. More than pathetic, it was unhealthy.

I tried to ignore her for the rest of the hour, and when I was unsuccessful at that, tried to make it seem like I was ignoring her. When the bell rang at last, I turned my back to her to gather up my things, expecting her to all but run out the door as she usually did.

"Bella?" Her voice shouldn't have been so familiar to me when I'd barely heard it in these past weeks, as if I'd known it all my life.

Slowly, unwillingly, I turned. I didn't want to be overcome by the emotions I knew I would feel when I saw her too-perfect face. My expression was wary when I finally faced her; hers was unreadable. She didn't say anything.

"What? Are you finally talking to me again?" I asked when the silence waiting for her to say something became too untenable.

Her lips twitched as she fought a smile. "Not really," she admitted.

I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly through my nose, aware that I was gritting my teeth on top of those two.

Edythe waited patiently.

"Then what do you want, Edythe?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed; it was easier to talk to her this way.

"I'm sorry." She sounded sincere. "I'm being rude. But it's better this way, really."

I opened my eyes. Her face was deadly serious.

"I don't know what you mean," I said.

"It's better we're not friends," she explained. "Trust me."

My eyes narrowed. I'd heard that one before, and not just from her.

"It's too bad you didn't figure that out earlier," I told her through clenched teeth. "You could have saved yourself all this regret."

I caught her off guard. "'Regret?'" she quoted. "Regret for what?"

"For not letting that stupid van squish me."

She was astonished. She stared at me in disbelief.

When she at last spoke, she almost sounded mad. "You think I regret saving your life?"

"I know you do," I snapped.

"You don't know anything." Now she was definitely mad, if she hadn't been before.

I turned my head sharply away from her, my jaw locking at all the wild accusations I wanted to make but wouldn't. I finished gathering my books together, then stood and walked to the door. I meant to sweep dramatically out of the room, taking a page out of Edythe's book, but of course I caught the toe of my boot on the door jamb and my books fell out of my arms. I stood there for a moment, thinking about just leaving them and coming back for them later. Then I sighed and went to pick them up.

Edythe was there; she'd already stacked my books into a pile. She handed them to me, her face hard.

"Thank you," I said icily.

Her eyes narrowed.

"You're welcome," she returned.

I straightened up swiftly, turned away from her once more, and stalked off to Gym without looking back.

Gym was brutal. Just in time for the madness, we'd moved on to basketball. My team never passed me the ball, sensing how "mad" a game with me could become in the chaotic sense, but I fell down a lot. Sometimes, I took people down with me. Today I was even worse than usual because, try as I might, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about Edythe. I tried to concentrate on my feet, but she kept on creeping back into my thoughts every time I needed my balance.

It was a relief, as always, to leave. I almost ran to my truck, a bad feeling settling in my stomach after the events of the day. The truck had suffered only minimal damage in the accident. I'd had to replace the taillights, and if I'd had a real paint job, I would've had to touch it up. Tyler and his parents, in comparison, had had to sell their van for parts.

I almost had a stroke when I rounded the corner and saw a tall, dark figure leaning against the side of my truck. Then I realized it was just Eric. I started walking again.

"Hey, Eric," I called out as greeting.

"Hi, Bella."

"What's up?" I asked as I unlocked the door. I wasn't paying attention as well as I should've, enough that I didn't pick up on the uncomfortable edge to his voice. His next words caught me by surprise.

"Uh, I was just wondering...if you would go to the spring dance with me?"

I was too startled to be diplomatic. "I thought it was girls' choice?"

"Well, yeah," he admitted, shamefaced.

I recovered my composure and tried to make my smile warm. "Thank you for asking me, but I'm going to be in Seattle that day."

"Oh," he said. "Maybe next time."

"'Maybe,'" I echoed.

Eric slouched off, back towards the school. As he left, I heard a low chuckle.

Edythe was walking past the front of my truck, looking straight forward, her lips pursed. I yanked my truck door open and jumped inside, slamming it loudly behind me. The engine roared deafeningly as I reversed into the aisle. Edythe was already in her car, two spaces down. She smoothly slid out in front of me, cutting me off. She stopped there, of all places, to wait for her family; I could see the four of them walking this way, but still by the cafeteria. I considered taking out the rear of her shiny Volvo, but there were too many witnesses. I looked in my rearview window. A line was beginning to form. Directly behind me, Tyler Crowley was in his recently acquired used Sentra, waving at me exuberantly. I was too aggravated to acknowledge him.

While I was sitting there, looking everywhere except at the car in front of me, I heard a knock on my passenger side window. Startled, I looked over; it was Tyler. I glanced back at his car through my rearview mirror, confused, and saw that it was empty with the door left open, though still running. I leaned across the cab to roll the window down. The crank was stiff, and I was only able to get it halfway down before giving up.

"I'm sorry Tyler," I said, fighting to keep my annoyance from being too obvious. This holdup wasn't my fault. "I'm stuck behind Cullen."

"Oh, I know," he replied brightly. "I just wanted to ask you something while we're stuck here."

I froze.

This could not be happening.

"Will you ask me to the spring dance?" he continued.

"I'm not going to be in town, Tyler."

"Yeah, Mike said that," he admitted.

"Then why – ?"

He shrugged. "I was hoping you were just letting him down easy."

It amazed me, how little people could pick up on, or otherwise extrapolate on things that weren't there.

"Sorry, Tyler," I repeated. I couldn't keep the sharpness from my voice this time. "I really am going out of town."

"That's cool. We still have prom."

Before I could respond, he was walking back to his car. I could feel the shock on my face, burning it up. When I looked forwards I saw Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper all sliding into the Volvo. In her rearview mirror, Edythe's eyes were on me. She was unquestionably shaking with laughter, as if she'd heard every word Tyler had said. My foot itched towards the gas pedal...one little bump wouldn't hurt any of them, just that glossy silver paint job. It was tempting.

But they were all in, and Edythe was speeding away. I drove home slowly, carefully, muttering to myself the entire way.

I decided dinner that night would be chicken enchiladas. It was a long process, and one that would keep me busy.

"I can help, Bella," Nonna tried to offer when I told her my plans.

"No, I've got this, Nonna," I insisted.

She seemed to sense my need to do this myself, because she acquiesced to my request, settling back into the living room to watch TV while she worked on her knitting. My grandmother was a strong believer in giving back to the community – she knitted baby blankets for the hospital and bigger ones for drives and the like.

While I was simmering the onions and chilies for our dinner, the phone rang. I was almost afraid to answer it, thinking that it would be my mom. I couldn't deal with her on top of everything else right now.

But it was Jessica, and she was jubilant: Mike had caught her after school to accept her invitation as friends, but she was excited about it nonetheless, thinking of it as progress. I felt bad for knowing otherwise, but it wasn't my secret to tell. She chatted with me briefly before she had to go, citing her desire to call Angela and Lauren next. I suggested, with as much faux-innocence that I was able to muster, that perhaps Angela would like to ask Eric to the dance. Lauren, I added, could ask Tyler, as I'd heard that he was still available. Jessica thought it was a great idea. She reiterated to me that she wanted me to come, but I gave her my Seattle excuse, and that was that.

Unfortunately, this conversation made Nonna catch on to the news. "You're going to Seattle?" she said, appearing in the archway as if from thin air.

I jerked in surprise, almost making a mess out of our dinner, but I prevented that from happening at the last second. "Uh, yes," I said. "The Saturday after next. I hope that's okay?"

I didn't like asking for permission, as I felt like it set a dangerous precedent. But I knew Nonna wouldn't use it like Renée would.

Nonna hid a smile. "The day of the spring dance?"

"Yes, Nonna."

She sighed lightly. "You're just like your father." Unlike my mom, who I knew would've tried to convince me that this dance would be a pivotal moment in my lifetime if I told her about it, Nonna didn't try to pester me into changing my mind and going. But she was concerned about something else. "Your truck probably doesn't get very good gas mileage."

"I know, I'll stop in Montesano and Olympia – and Tacoma if I have to."

"And you're going all by yourself?" she asked.

"Yes."

Nonna knew I had roamed Phoenix all by myself, that that city was five times the size of Seattle. "Alright," she said. "Just promise me you will be safe?"

"I will. I promise."

After I'd cleaned up dinner, I went upstairs to work on my homework. But my mind kept on straying from the task, focusing on the words Edythe had spoken today – and more. It stung that she had said she didn't want to be friends, although I knew it was understandable. I wasn't interesting. She was. She was interesting...and brilliant...and mysterious...and perfect..and beautiful...and possibly able to lift full-sized vans with one hand.

There was a mystery going on with her, I knew there was. There had to be a reason for her strength, and the changing color of her eyes, and the near-hatred Sam had expressed towards her when we'd walked out of the ER. My cousin didn't hate anybody; it wasn't in his nature for him to. Even after his breakup with Leah, after all she had put him and Emily through...

Mystery or not, though, I knew I needed to respect Edythe's wishes. She wanted me to leave her alone, fine. Then I would. I would get through my self-imposed exile here in purgatory...and I would probably go to college in Seattle instead of the Southwest or Hawaii so I could remain close for Nonna's sake, but it was of no matter. My time here in Forks specifically was limited. I focused my thoughts on sunny beaches and palm trees alongside my homework for the rest of the night, pretending like I didn't know Edythe would make a reappearance in my dreams.

The next morning, when I pulled into the parking lot, I deliberately parked as far as possible from the silver Volvo. I didn't want to put myself in the path of temptation and end up owing Edythe a new car. Getting out of the cab, I fumbled with my key and it fell into a puddle at my feet. As I bent down to get it, a white hand flashed out and grabbed it before I could. I nearly jumped out of my skin as my head shot up, and I saw that the devil herself was right next to me, leaning casually against my truck.

"How do you do that?" I questioned with irritation.

"Do what?" As she spoke, she held out my key before dropping it into my waiting palm.

"Appear out of thin air."

"It's not my fault if you are exceptionally unobservant, Bella," she murmured in reply.

I scowled at her utterly perfect face. Her eyes were back to their butterscotch color today. I had to look back down in order to reassemble my now-tangled thoughts.

"Why the traffic jam last night?" I asked, looking at my shoes rather than at her visage. "I thought you were supposed to be pretending I don't exist, not irritating me to death."

She snickered. "That was for Tyler's sake, not mine. I had to give him his chance.

"You..." I breathed, my head snapping back up. I couldn't think of a bad enough word. It felt like the heat of my anger should've burned her, but she only became more amused.

"So you are trying to irritate me to death?" I demanded. "Since Tyler's van didn't do the job?"

It was the wrong thing to say, though not undeserved. Anger flashed in those mesmerizing eyes of hers. All signs of humor left her face as her smile vanished. "Bella, you are absolutely absurd," she said, her voice cold.

My palms tingled – I wanted to hit something. Badly. That surprised me. I wasn't a violent person by nature, far from it. But Edythe just got under my skin so well...

"Wait," she called as I started to walk away, sloshing angrily through the rain. It didn't take her any effort at all to make the leap to catch up to me, and then she was keeping pace. "I'm sorry, that was rude."

I ignored her.

"I'm not saying it isn't true," she pressed on anyways. "But it was still rude to say it."

"Why won't you leave me alone?" I grumbled.

"I wanted to ask you something, but you sidetracked me," she explained with a light chuckle. She seemed to have recovered her humor.

It didn't make sense. So many things about her didn't make sense.

"Do you have a multiple personality disorder?"

"You're doing it again."

I sighed, wishing I would give in to temptation and do something more than that. "Fine, then. What do you want to ask?"

"I was wondering if a week from Saturday – you know, the day of the spring dance – "

I stopped in my step to wheel around. "Are you trying to be funny?" I huffed out, my chest practically heaving and my face becoming drenched in the rain.

She was practically smirking. "Would you please let me finish?"

I remained silent, balling my hands into my jacket – an easy compromise to the fists that I wanted to make.

"I heard you say yesterday that you were going to Seattle that day, and I was wondering if you wanted a ride."

...That was unexpected.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

"Do you want a ride to Seattle?"

"With who?"

"Myself, obviously," she said. She was grinning now, apparently unable to keep it at bay.

I was still stunned. "Why?"

"Well, I was planning on going to Seattle in a few weeks to peruse some new bookstores – " I blinked in surprise at this, as those were exactly the plans I had made for myself, with the two bookstores and library in Forks being such as they were " – and, to be honest, I'm not sure if your truck could make it."

My surprise was gone. "My truck works just fine, thank you very much."

"But can it make it there on one tank of gas?" she returned, matching my pace once more as I began to walk.

"I don't see how that is any of your concern," I said, tacking on to myself, stupid, shiny Volvo owner.

"The wasting of finite resources is everyone's business, Bella. Have you seen the reports on global warming?"

"Honestly, Edythe." I got a thrill out of saying her name, as much as I hated it. "I thought you didn't want to be friends with me."

"I said it would be better if we weren't friends," she corrected me. "Not that I didn't want to be."

"Oh, thank you for clearing that up."

We came to a stop underneath the cafeteria roof now, which gave me a better chance to look up at her face. She was so tall. Tall enough to be a model.

This wasn't helping the clarity of my thoughts.

"It would be more...prudent for you to not be my friend," Edythe spoke. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "But I have given up on trying to stay away from you, Bella."

I forgot how to breathe in the wake of that statement, staring up into her butterscotch eyes. They were how I imagined the color of ichor, the blood of the gods, to be.

"Will you go to Seattle with me?" she asked again, her expression intense.

I was remaining past the point of words, so all I could do was nod.

She smiled briefly, before her face became serious. "You really should stay away from me," she said. "I'll see you in class."

She turned abruptly and walked back the way we had come.

Word Count: 5,411

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