Chapter Eighteen

Bella

"Sure you wanna go to school?" Charlie asked as I rinsed our plates from breakfast.

After spending two hours talking, I decided to make a decent breakfast. The brownies were good, but not so filling, so I made eggs, sausage, and hash browns for us. Charlie happily ate most of it, thanking me over and over as he did so. Honestly, it was the least I could do.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said, sitting back down to finish my juice. "Are you too tired?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm good, but you can stay home today if you want. Catch up on your sleep? God knows you haven't gotten a lot lately."

I was exhausted, actually, but I didn't want to miss a day of school so soon. I was still catching up to everyone, after all.

"I'll sleep good tonight," I said. "Hopefully really well."

He smiled, lifting his mug to finish the last of his coffee. Once he was done, I grabbed my backpack and we left for the school. It was a quiet drive—nice and comfortable and easy.

"Have a good day," he said, stopping at the curb as I pulled my backpack from beween my feet.

I nodded. "You too. Bye."

"Bye, Bells." He smiled as I opened my door.

I was a little earlier than usual and Angela had yet to arrive, so I found a spot outside of the school and off to the side to sit down and wait. There was a little grassy patch with a bench near the curb that was perfect. Pulling my book out, I flipped to where I'd left off and tried to read.

I only made it a few pages before I felt someone near me. I was startled when I looked up and found Edward, sitting next to me. He hadn't made a sound.

"Did you just appear out of thin air?" I asked, wide-eyed as he smirked.

"I've been told I'm rather quiet," he said. "So . . . Wuthering Heights? Aren't we reading Beowulf in class?"

I shrugged, laying my bookmark in the pages and closing it. "This is a little more enjoyable."

"Enjoyable?" he chuckled. "Apparently you haven't read it all."

"It's probably my sixth time, at least."

"Then you and I have different definitions of enjoyable."

I shrugged. "Well, I like it. You're here early."

He nodded. "I guess I woke up earlier than usual. And what about you? Why are you all the way over here alone?"

"Angela isn't here yet," I said, lifting my feet from the ground and crossing them under me.

"And I'm guessing you'd rather not listen to Jessica and Lauren's downright riveting conversation about makeup?"

I giggled softly. "Can't say it appeals to me. How do you know what they're talking about anyway?"

He shifted on the bench, turning more toward me. "I walked past them."

"But your car's right there." I nodded at the Volvo straight ahead of us at the far side of the lot.

"I took a detour to you. So, how are you liking the weather?"

"It's . . . fine, I guess. Are we really talking about the weather?"

He smiled. "I didn't know what else to ask."

"Why are you asking anything? I mean, I've been told you rarely speak to anyone, and yet here you are, asking me about the weather."

"I guess no one else is really worth talking to. You're different from them."

My gaze fell to my lap. Different. I was always different and weird and never fit in. I didn't care about fitting in, but I didn't want to be noticed, either.

"It's not a bad thing," he said. "They're all the same. Typical teenagers, but not you."

"How do you know I'm not typical? You just met me."

"I can't . . . read you, like them," he said, running his hand through his unruly hair. "It's nice, but a little frustrating. For some reason, I want to know who you are, Bella Swan."

I snorted, rolling my eyes. "That's a good one."

"Good one?" he asked, cocking his brow.

"You want to know why I've suddenly shown up in Forks, right? What brought me here? Why Charlie never knew he had a kid? You wanna know my story, so what? You can tell everyone?"

He shook his head quickly as I grabbed my bag. "Bella, no. Please, that's not true."

I stood up in a huff, furious at myself for thinking he could be nice—he could be a friend. He was just like everyone else, wanting to know the gossip on the new girl. I shouldn't have been mad, really. Curiously and all that. He couldn't help himself. But I was mad. For some reason, I was furious. It made no sense, but I was. I stormed off across the parking lot, having no clue where I was going but needing to get away.

"Bella, stop!"

I heard his voice before I felt him tackle me to the ground in the middle of the parking lot. My head hit the pavement with a loud crack as Tyler's van landed beside us, rocking back and forth as it settled back on to the pavement.

Everything was a blur, fussy as my head pounded, but I was pretty sure Edward just stopped a van from pinning me to the car beside us.

Maybe.

Possibly.

"Ow," I whimpered before black spots clouded my already blurry vision.

"No, no, no, no, no."

I don't own Twilight.