Chapter 4
Frustrations
I was more eager to get to school today than I was in the last 50 years of my life. I could almost imagine my hands shaking in anticipation. Of course, my anticipation had nothing to do with getting more knowledge or finding out what color hair Lauren Mallory chose for her high school junior year. It was all about Bella, the mysterious girl with sweet freesia and an apple smell.
I contained myself and didn't raise my voice at my siblings, even though I really wanted to rush them out of the door.
"Even if we are there earlier," she won't be. Alice cooled me down.
In the parking lot, I saw Alice wink at me as she came up with something Rose and she needed to do before the class. Naturally, their significant others followed them and I was left standing next to my Volvo alone.
"She'll be here in about 2 minutes." Alice. I felt a small smile appear on my face.
I didn't know if Alice was trying to play a matchmaker or just following her visions, but I felt both excited and terrified at my first theory. There was no way she thought Bella was a good match for me. She was sweet and kind, thoughtful and so very smart. I had no place in her life, and more than that, her heart. Bella should be with someone who only ever had good intentions and knew right from wrong from the start. More importantly, she should be with someone who could give her everything, be it children or just growing old together.
The sound of her car pulled me out of my thoughts immediately. Why did I even go that route? Bella was a friendly acquaintance of mine, nothing more. I didn't even know her, at least not yet. And she definitely didn't know anything about my life either.
"Good morning, Edward!" Bella smiled at me as she got out of the car alone.
"Good morning, Bella," I spoke politely. "No Stefan today?"
"Our friends just came to visit unexpectedly."
"And you didn't want to stay with them?"
"I'll see them both later. Stefan is…." Bella spoke uncertainly. "Stefan is better with them than me."
"Are they a bad crowd too?" I chuckled remembering Stefan's confession yesterday.
"He told you about that?" She asked surprised.
"Yeah, and just so you know, I think your judgment about my family might be a little off."
"Oh yeah? And why is that?" Bella smirked.
"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but nobody else was trying to make friends with us."
That was true, wherever we moved, whatever our stories were, we were always outsiders. Our vampire essence scared humans away, and it was something that we grew to love. Well, everyone but Alice, who still tried her best to look friendly. She came across as weird instead, but I would never tell her that.
"I thought it was weird at first, but now that I've spent a whole hour sitting with your family, I confirmed my suspicion and can certainly say that you guys are a good crowd."
"What makes you say that?"
"I think people find you all intimidating. There are five of you, for one. Then you have your good looks and wealthy lifestyle, as well as confidence that one wouldn't notice in people who just started their life in a new town."
"Ah, so my confidence and good looks make me look unfriendly?" I joked, and Bella laughed at that. "How is it that you are seen as friendly when you possess just the same qualities?"
"That's a very strange way to tell a woman you find her pretty." She smirked.
"I try." I offered her my elbow. "Should we head to school?"
"We should." Bella sighed and took my offered arm.
I wanted so badly to just ask her everything I wished to know. What was her favorite subject? What did she want to do after graduation? How did she lose her parents? So many questions, that I could have easily gotten out of anyone else's mind in just a few minutes. Oh how frustrating it was that the only person I was interested in was blocking me from getting the answers that I craved.
"So, are these friends of yours from Virginia?" I asked politely, hoping she would give me more than just a simple yes.
"Yes, we went to school together."
"They must have missed you and Stefan if they decided to travel through the country to see you." I pointed out, hoping for just a little more.
"They definitely missed Stefan. My brothers and I took a trip to Europe over the summer, so we actually didn't see them for three months."
More question. Did she like to travel? Has she traveled before? How stable was her financial situation? Three kids with dead parents, the latter must have had enough money saved up before they died. I never knew personally what it was like not to be financially wealthy. As a human my father had a successful career, so we never needed to worry about money. As a vampire, most of the costs disappeared, and what Carlisle was making as a doctor kept us more than comfortable. When I figured out my gift and learned how to concentrate it on specific people, I started making my own money on bets. I was cheating, of course, but I never took more than the person could spare. And after Alice joined us, I could almost forget at times about money.
"Where in Europe?" I asked the most inconspicuous question possible.
"Everywhere really." She chuckled. "We went from country to country. It was a very interesting experience."
"Just like that? The entire Europe for interest and fun or was there something else?"
"It's a very long story," Bella spoke uneasy and I decided not to push it. "Have you traveled?"
"I've had my fair share," I replied cautiously. I couldn't tell her I'd been to most parts of the world by the ripe age of 17, could I? "Your other brother, is he not with you and Stefan? You never mention him."
"He needed to get business in order before he joined us. He'll be here in a few days."
So my suspicion was correct and the person she was arguing about with Charles was her older brother. At least that mystery was out.
"Thank you for walking me." Bella smiled when we reached her first class. "I'll see you at lunch?"
"Of course," I replied to both of her sentences and turned to get to my own lecture.
English lit was painfully boring and instead of listening to another lecture about Hamlet, I was watching Bella through the eyes of other students in her History class instead. Her desk partner, whom I recognized as Angela Webber, had her nose stuck in the textbook, paying no attention to Bella. Jessica Stanley, the gossip queen of Forks High, though was paying way more attention to Bella than the lecture. All her thoughts were concentrated on the new girl who seemed to take the entire men's population breath away.
Bella was doodling something in her notepad, not really paying attention to anything, or at least it looked that way. When the teacher asked the class a question though, both Angela's and Bella's hands rose into the air.
"Miss Webber?" The teacher asked, both girls put their hands down and Bella looked back at her notebook and continued doodling.
"The July Crisis."
"That's correct."
The next time the teacher asked a question, only Bella put her hand up.
"Showoff." Jessica's thoughts huffed.
"Miss Salvatore?"
"Their strategy lacked training and had a lot of miscommunications. Germany believed the Austro-Hungarian army was going to the north flanks to direct most of the troops against Russia, while they took on France. The Austro-Hungarian military prepared for Germany to take on the Russians. Because of that mistake, The Austro-Hungarians were forced to fight both Russian and Serbian fronts."
"Excellent answer."
"Why does anyone need to know that?" Jessica wondered.
I was impressed by Bella's answer. Both Salvatore siblings had a pretty good knowledge of the First World War. Not many students at this time were interested in History, I would expect most of them to know facts about the Second World War since the scars were still visible and the mass media was more developed by that time.
I was getting more frustrated now. How did Bella know so much? Were her parents historians? Was she just a very bright woman with a thirst for knowledge? During the next two classes, I figured it might be the second. She answered all the questions the teachers asked her in both Algebra and English.
Watching Bella through other people's eyes was far more interesting than listening to my own boring lectures. During her next class, I saw her through her lab partner's eyes. Physics was probably one subject that I didn't enjoy at all. By the laws of physics, I should have died back in 1918, yet somehow the laws failed me. How was I alive after my heart stopped beating and producing its electromagnetic field? Same question about the blood in my veins that I no longer had…I knew the answer to my own questions. A cruel joke mixed with a little bit of a miracle. That's what I was now.
Bella was invested in her lecture though. She took careful notes and studied her professor as he explained the subject. I was envious of her at that moment, the only new thing I wanted to learn was her. Her presence in my life gave me an opportunity, a challenge that I didn't think I needed. I thought I knew everything about life, I could find out about anyone's past, present, or future either through my own gift or those of my siblings. Bella was something new, an undiscovered theory around billions of proven facts.
When I came inside my History classroom and sat at my lonely desk, I wondered if the best way to learn more about Bella's past would be through Stefan. After all, he seemed much more eager to share his interests than she did. Of course, he needed to stay at home today.
"I will be assigning topics related to the First World War's first few battles. You'll be split into teams of two. The assignment is a written paper with multiple sources." Mr. Thames spoke as soon as the bell rang.
"Can we choose our partner?" A guy in the second row asked.
"No, Mr. Brian. Hopefully, this project will not only make you learn more history but also give you an opportunity to work with someone new, someone you might not share anything in common."
I heard many students curse in their heads. Many of them started picturing the faces of students they hoped they would get, but a lot more pictured those they definitely didn't want to be paired up with. I smirked to myself, my own face flew threw many heads in the second category of people. Although there were a couple of females who pictured my face in the first one as well. Now I was the one praying I wouldn't be paired up with them.
The teacher looked at his paper and started listing students' names and battles.
"Stefan Salvatore…"The teacher spoke and most of the people who still haven't heard their name silently pleaded to hear it now. "...and Edward Cullen. The topic is The First Battle of Champagne."
I sighed in relief. To be completely honest, I was dreading hearing Newton's name, it would have been proof enough that the universe was against me. The topic was good as well. A very interesting battle, I just hoped Stefan knew at least enough information about it to have a good discussion.
"Mr. Cullen, would you be able to let Mr. Salvatore know about this arrangement?"
"Absolutely, Mr. Thames."
The teacher continued on and I started counting the seconds till the bell rang. I stood up half a second before it happened and made my way through eager students, who were rushing to get to the cafeteria.
"Hey there!" A soft voice spoke unexpectedly. I turned to my right and saw Bella standing next to the lockers.
"Hello again." I smiled, making my way to her.
"My class ended early, I thought I would wait for you before lunch."
The warm feeling in my chest appeared out of the blue. I pushed it away, even though the feeling was nice, and totally took control over me for a few seconds. Did she feel the same way when I met her in the parking lot this morning? It was very bold of me, but I hoped she did.
"Thank you," I spoke, hoping she wouldn't realize I was thanking her for the feeling she gave me and not for simply meeting me at my class.
Bella got her hand ready before I could even offer her my arm. Another warm feeling. Screw it, it felt too good to keep pushing away. I took her handbag and we started walking toward the cafeteria.
Her hand felt almost as warm as mine, meaning she must have been cold. I got a little worried about her health, she didn't show signs of a cold or that she was cold. Her green sweater should have been keeping her warm, many students had regular cotton shirts on still. I also couldn't find any goosebumps on her skin, which could indicate that she was indeed cold. I concentrated on her heartbeat, noticing again that it was beating a little slower than those around us. Yesterday her heartbeat was slow too. Maybe she had bad blood circulation? Could that explain the smell of her blood as well? I would have to ask Carlisle about it.
"Yeah, sorry. How were your classes?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"Pretty good. Angela and I got paired up for a History project, so that should be interesting." I decided against telling Bella that her being paired up with Angela had a specific intention - preventing other students from taking advantage of the two smarter girls in class.
"That's nice. I got paired up with Stefan."
"So the AP class has the same curriculum as the regular one?" Bella questioned amused.
"The AP class gets a little more involved in the topics."
"That's it?" Bella chuckled. "I'm glad I decided against that then."
"Against what?"
"I didn't want to share any of my classes with Stefan this year. We both really like History and Biology. I decided I'll give him AP History and he will agree to attend regular biology classes."
"That's very brave. Starting a new school and deciding against sharing classes with someone you already know." I noted.
"It's not being brave." Bella laughed. "It's being annoyed when Stefan starts arguing with teachers."
"So he does that in all of his classes?" I found that funny. Just imagining teachers in their lounge discussing that one student who makes them look incompetent. Hopefully, Emmett never finds out about that. Knowing my brother, he would jump on an opportunity to prove he could be more annoying than Stefan if he put his mind to it.
"Oh yes, he thinks annoying mor…teachers is hilarious. He gets it from our mother." She seemed to get pulled into a thought for a moment there. "So does Damon, actually. Out of the three of us, I'm the only one who didn't get that little quirk."
"So you take after your father?" I guessed, hoping she would tell me a little more about her parents.
Bella cringed instead. Now I wondered what could be the cause of that.
"Probably, but that's the only thing that we have in common." She spoke abruptly. I wondered what her father did to make Bella want to have nothing in common with the man.
We sat down at our table and waited for everyone to join us. Rose and Emmett came first.
"Hey, Bells!" Emmett spoke with a grin. I gave him a look. He knew I hated any kind of nickname, especially for such a beautiful name as Bella.
"Hey, Em. Rosalie." Bella greeted.
Emmett took a seat next to Bella, and Rose, next to him. Just when I was about to ask them how their classes were to start a polite conversation, Alice rushed to the table like a hurricane.
"Bella! Rumor has it, your friends from Mystic Falls are in town."
Mystic Falls? Never heard of such a place. Was that the small town she was from? How could I have forgotten to ask that?
"Uh yeah." Bella looked a little baffled as well. "I only told Edward, how did you know?"
"Wasn't me," I promised and glanced at Alice, silently asking what in the world she was doing.
"Forks is a very small town." Alice found an excuse in less than a second. "Someone saw them driving in the direction of your house, they shared it with their neighbor, the neighbors told their kids, and so on. You know how that goes." She waved it off.
"I guess."
"So?" Alice questioned expectedly.
"So?" Bella asked, an amused laugh escaped her lips. Alice rolled her eyes and groaned.
"So can we meet them?" She finally asked.
"Uh…You want to?"
"Of course!" Alice's smile was brighter than the sun. "After school, yeah?"
"Alice, maybe you should give Bella some time to think about it." I insisted.
Alice looked at me amused. "I saw us at her place when I decided to ask the question. Why would she say no?" I rolled my eyes.
"You'll regret it if we don't meet them," Alice told Bella with a knowing look.
"Will I now?" Bella snorted. "You know that sounds more like a challenge than a threat."
"You're so stubborn." Alice giggled. "We'll be at your place around 8."
My sister sat down then and I turned to Bella. "We won't come unless you invite us over, I promise."
"I feel like you have to add, "over my dead body" if you're planning to go against Alice's decision." Bella chuckled.
She didn't even realize how right she was. When Alice put her mind to something, it was happening. That specifically replied to visions she saw and liked. I felt a stab in my back though when I noticed my sister was once again covering her thoughts from me.
I wondered though what she meant by "You will regret it if we don't meet them?" I sent her a questioning look.
"All at the right time."
Alice. I prepared to call her a devilish pixie. She crinkled her nose, her eyes twitching slightly. I tried again, not preparing to ask her nicely to tell me. She shook her head too subtle for anyone to realize.
"He might as well," Alice continued the original conversation, letting me know she wasn't planning to budge. Jasper shook his head with a knowing smile, looking between me and his wife.
Bella agreed to have us come over, even though she was still surprised Alice wanted to meet her hometown friends that badly.
After school, I hopped in the shower and changed my clothes. I waited for an appropriate time and went downstairs to wait for my siblings. Jasper and Emmett joined me almost immediately.
"You think her friends would smell different?" Jasper asked concerned.
"I doubt everyone from Mystic Falls has an unappetizing scent." Emmett pointed out. "What are the chances?"
"I don't know." I joined the conversation. "There's something inhuman about it, don't you think?"
"Maybe." Emmett shrugged. "All I know is that I can hear the blood running through Bella's and Stefan's veins and their heartbeat is present. They also don't smell like the mutts from La Push. Maybe their family is just some weird anomaly."
"I say we wait till full moon before we get any closer to them." Jasper was cautious. "The only other supernatural beings in this world are werewolves. The real ones, I mean. What if we encountered them?"
"Werewolves." I snorted. "The few that are still around would avoid our kind like plague after what the Volturi did to them."
"That's why I'm suggesting we keep our distance until the full moon. What if this friendship is just an excuse to get us to trust them?"
"I doubt that." Emmett countered. "I bet you ten grand they're not werewolves."
"I don't really think that they are. I just don't believe they are human either."
"Who else can they be?" I asked involved.
"Hear me out." Jasper put his elbows on his knees, putting his hands in the air as he was about to explain his theory. "Think about all the legends and myths you've heard over your lives. So many of them speak of the supernatural beings that roamed around the earth. The stories about Dracula, which we know were based on the Romanian clan. Vampires are real." Jasper made a circle around us with his finger. "Many authors tell stories about werewolves. Humans change into wolves during the full moon. Many Indigenous legends have stories about shapeshifters. Here we have the La Push wolves and the Children of the Moon."
"So you think just because we don't believe that there are other supernatural beings, doesn't mean that some other legends and stories are true as well?" I asked.
"What Jasper is saying makes sense." Emmett agreed. "La Push wolves didn't know they weren't the real werewolves until Carlisle told them. If one supernatural being didn't know anything about the existence of another, we could be in the exact same boat as them."
"Also don't forget that to many of our kind, the La Push tribe is a myth as well."
"What do you think they can be?" I asked my brothers.
"There are way too many stories, Edward. We might be facing something as popular as witches or something more complicated like the ancient Greek sirens or gorgons. Who knows really?"
"Witches?" I couldn't help but laugh.
"Salem, Pendle, any place that had horrible witch trials in the past really. We can all agree it was gruesome and horrible, but who is to say the townspeople were wrong in their clarification?"
"Have you shared your suspicions with Carlisle yet?" I asked.
"Yes, he's very intrigued, but he wants us to be careful, in case my theory is wrong and the Salvatores are simply humans with weird blood conditions. It's hard for him to judge their scent, he got so accustomed to human blood to notice the difference."
"What about their silent minds?"
"That's another question." Jasper went deep into thought.
I heard two pairs of footsteps coming from upstairs.
"Of course, we can just ask your wife to tell us what's going on," I told Jasper and pointed to the staircase.
Jasper looked up at me and shrugged. "She won't tell me either."
"The little devil," Emmett smirked.
"I enjoy your suspense." Alice turned her head to her side and smiled innocently.
I rushed everyone outside and we all got into my Volvo. The drive took less than 15 minutes. Salvatore's house was further away by car than on foot. The road leading away from Forks was dark and quiet. After the first right turn, we got into a dirt road and drove on it till a small light post came into view. It was the only source of light in the area, probably a signal to whoever got invited to Stefan and Bella's residence that they should take the next turn to the left. I followed the signal and soon the road switched to gravel. After another minute and a very sharp turn, the house came into view.
I didn't get a chance to really look at it the night before. But it was a pretty big mansion with a little stand-alone shed to the right. The building itself appeared to be the old; dark wooden front porch, built like an archway, and had two small light posts on two sides. In the middle of them stood a sturdy wooden door. The house itself looked dark, especially at night, but I could see the warm brown color peaking through.
Alice got out of the car first and eagerly walked to the door, knocking three times before gesturing us to hurry. I turned off my car and joined Alice on the front porch with the rest of our siblings. Emmett looked almost as excited as the little pixie. Rosalie and Jasper though were cautious. Rose was wondering in her thoughts what was the real reason Alice wanted us to come over here, while Jasper was going over his theories.
"Hey." Stefan opened the door and motioned us in. "Thanks for coming."
"Not like we had a choice." Emmett laughed, pointing at Alice with her thumb.
"Yeah, I feel you." Stefan smiled. "Nevertheless, you're welcome here."
Stefan told us we could keep our shoes on and had us follow him deeper into his home. The house felt warm and somehow even older than what it looked like outside. Hand-carved shelving units even smelt old. The paintings on the beige walls were from my time, the vintage mirror stood in the hallway just next to the front door, and the wooden floors screeched as we walked. We made our way into a square room with a gigantic fireplace, most likely the original one, back from the times the house was built. In front of it, two sets of black leather couches faced each other, an oak wooden coffee table stood in the middle. The three armchairs appeared to be brought into the room as they didn't quite match the design of the room. On one of them, I noticed a familiar face and smiled.
"Bella." I nodded.
"Edward." The girl smiled back.
I heard two female voices coming from the kitchen and tried to get into their heads. With one of them, it was the exact same white noise that I'd heard in Stefan and Bella's minds. The other one though…I felt like I was punched in the head when I tried to get past her mental blocking. Could she feel my presence in her mind? How did she do that?
I smelled the house and felt a tinge at the back of my throat when one of the girls' scents hit me. It wasn't quite as delicious as other human blood, but it wasn't as unappetizing as the three other scents in the house. There was of course a human scent here as well, but I assumed it was Charles's and it appeared he hadn't been in the house recently.
"Anything to drink?" Bella offered.
"We're okay." Jasper smiled politely.
"Oh, this should be fun!" Emmett grinned. "I'll take a beer actually."
I shot him a look, asking what he was doing. Everyone in this house was supposed to be underage, how would they have beers? Unless, of course, they were the sort of teenagers who had fake IDs and threw parties in their homes when their parents left for vacation. Emmett just shrugged his shoulders lightly.
"Caroline, can you grab a beer from the fridge?" Bella raised her voice a little.
"Sure." A high-pitched voice responded.
Bella gestured for all of us to sit down. She smiled at me as I chose to sit in an armchair next to hers. A few moments later the two girls came out of the kitchen. One of them had curly blonde hair and blue eyes with a tint of green in them. Her smile was bright and she looked around the room as she put down a tray with drinks to the coffee table and took a seat at the last armchair. The second girl looked a little older than the first one. Her skin was dark, her brown hair was cut in a cute bob and her green eyes drew attention to them. I could see she knew great loss.
"So, this is Alice, Emmett, and Edward Cullens. And Rosalie and Jasper Hales." Bella pointed at each one of us. "And these are my friends from Mystic Falls, Caroline Forbes, and Bonnie Bennett."
I noticed how the darker girl, Bonnie, flinched when Bella called her a friend. Some bad blood between them, was it? Caroline's expression didn't change, she was still smiling.
"Nice to meet you!" Alice grinned at both girls. "Hopefully, your travel was enjoyable."
"Oh it was, I've never been driving for such a long time before."
"Makes you think how big the world is." Alice pointed out and Caroline's smile grew at that.
"Yeah, I still think I'd make someone drive my car back for me. I would rather fly back than spend another two days locked in a car."
An uncomfortable silence moment appeared and Stefan suggested we play a game, sort of an icebreaker. Caroline immediately suggested Never Have I Ever. A risky game when playing with five vampires with decades of experience behind them. And how was it okay for all of them to indulge in underage drinking? I wasn't one to judge, but it seemed a little strange that Caroline and Bonnie traveled half the country to see their friends from school without any adult supervision. And Bella and Stefan weren't worried that their uncle was going to make a surprise comeback and see them all drinking his liquor…Although, that wasn't the first strange thing the Salvatores have done since I met them.
"I'll start." Caroline's voice brought me back to reality.
"Wait a second!" Bella interrupted. "Four people don't have anything to drink."
She rushed into the kitchen and came back with a great supply of alcoholic drinks.
"I'm driving," I spoke eagerly, feeling proud of finding a good excuse.
"Anything but liquor," Rosalie begged.
"Our parents were heavy drinkers, Rose and I have a principle of avoiding alcohol," Jasper spoke calmly and sent a feeling of sympathy to the four humans in the room.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Bella spoke sincerely.
"I'll take a glass of whatever you're drinking." Alice beamed.
"Never tried that stuff before." Alice's thoughts were just as excited as the smile showing on her face.
"Straight?" Bella asked, unscrewing the bottle of what looked like some type of whiskey.
"Sure!"
Bella passed a glass to Alice and sat back down. After a small discussion, we decided that whoever wasn't drinking would have to complete a dare at the end of the game.
"Okay." Caroline jumped in her seat. "Never have I ever been a straight-A student."
Jasper, Rose, and I raised our hands as an answer and I excitedly watched Alice take a small sip from her glass.
"Wow, that's disgusting." Alice grimaced in her head, but her outside facade held. "It's warming me up inside, what a strange feeling. If only it didn't taste so gross."
I held my chuckle and turned to Emmett who took a big gulp of his beer and swallowed it loudly. His face didn't show, but his internal struggle to keep it down was hilarious.
"I bet he'll say "never again" tonight too," Rose predicted.
I turned my head to the rest of the crowd and noticed Bella and Stefan taking a sip from their glasses as well. I listened to their heartbeats and was surprised when I didn't notice a change in their rhythms at all. More surprising was the fact that Stefan's and Caroline's hearts beat as slow as Bella's. Whatever was keeping me out of their minds had to be connected to their heart rhythms as well.
"What subjects?" I asked Caroline and Bonnie, trying not to obsess so much about the dilemma.
"History," Caroline replied first. "Geometry and Biology for me. I failed the last one actually."
"Yeah, I was surprised when you took it up." Bonnie smiled at her friend. "Mine was Gym."
"Even though two of her best friends were on a cheerleading squad," Stefan noted and I noticed Rosalie look over Caroline.
"You do look like you would be a cheerleader." My sister noted.
"I don't know if it's a compliment or not."
Rose shrugged her shoulders. "I can picture myself as one, you decide."
"Okay. Never have I ever…" Alice started. "...lost a bet."
I rolled my eyes and then heard the most wonderful sound in the universe. I followed it to its source and saw Bella laughing. Her head was thrown backward, a big smile on her face and her hair shaking slightly with her moves. The sound of her laughter was magnificent, so real and exposed.
"That was the funniest sibling interaction." Stefan was laughing too. "How all of you rolled your eyes."
"Emmett has to drink the rest of his drink for the amount of times he lost a bet." Jasper slapped Emmett on his shoulder with a mischievous grin.
"Are you saying I can't do it?" Emmett wiggled his eyebrows.
That comment made even Bonnie, the quietest girl, who looked like she was uncomfortable, break and a soft giggle escaped her lips. I tried prying her mind again, but as soon as I tried, her smile went away and she turned her head to look at me before she shoved me away from her head. How could she tell?
She kept staring, her eyebrows arched slightly. I felt a weird sensation going through my head. Not quite painful but certainly annoying enough. I rubbed my temple in wonder, what was going on?
"Edward?" I broke eye contact with Bonnie and turned to look at Bella.
"Sorry, what was the question?" I replied hastily.
"Never have I ever bribed someone," Bella repeated and I put my hand up.
"Who?" Stefan chuckled.
"Some security guard in Florence." I shrugged.
"What did you do it for?" He asked amused.
"Who knows?" I crossed my arms on my chest and leaned back in my seat. I kept Bonnie in my peripheral vision, she was still drilling me with her gaze.
"Jasper, why don't you go?" Caroline urged my quieter sibling.
"Never have I ever broken up with someone." Jasper put his arm around Alice and placed a small kiss on the side of her head. Caroline cooed at that.
"And you never will," Alice added.
Emmett took another drink. Rose put her hand up and I saw flashes of her memories flood her thoughts. Rosalie in the wedding dress she picked a few weeks prior to her transition, terrifying looks on her ex-fiancee's and his friends' faces. "Even if it was in death." She thought last.
Seeing Rose's memories of that day was painful, if it happened just a few years before that, I would have dealt with those men myself, if they could even be called men after what they've done.
Stefan took a drink, and so did Caroline and Bonnie. I felt a little pinch in my heart when I saw Bella take a sip as well. For some reason, the thought of Bella dating someone was wrong. I knew in their eyes, that I looked strange, a good-looking high school boy who had never broken up with someone.
"Never have I ever lied about my age," Bonnie spoke, I could feel her staring at me more intensely now. What was her deal?
Everyone except for Bonnie either had their hand up or were drinking now. I hoped the humans would assume my family did it for the same reason as them, buying alcohol or getting into a club with a fake ID. Bonnie's lingering stare that I kept feeling though made me shiver inside. She could definitely feel something was off about me.
The night went on, and I hoped Bonnie would drop her suspicions as she got more intoxicated, but…with every question she asked there was something odd. She wondered if anyone had seen a ghost, tried psychedelics, suffered a great loss, cheated death…The last one surprisingly, everyone in the room did, and Caroline even reminded Bonnie to take a drink herself. The questions got darker and darker and by the end of the night, I was certain Bonnie Bennett was playing her own game.
"I'll help you." I offered to Bella when we decided it was time to call it a night. The time was close to midnight and humans needed to get some sleep.
I took the tray with empty glasses and Emmett's beer bottle and followed Bella into the kitchen area. The new room looked just as old, except for the appliances. The cabinets were cream in color, the dark wooden floor continued into the room, and a kitchen fan hung pretty low, the light string hit my head as I walked underneath it.
"Thank you again for inviting us over," I spoke, placing a tray next to the sink.
"It was pretty fun, I wasn't expecting that." She smiled and leaned on one of the counters. "Who would've known you have so many dark secrets?"
"Who would've indeed?" I chuckled. "You've done some things too. I liked getting to know you, Bella. I only wish we didn't have quite the audience."
"The wish is mutual." Bella blushed slightly. "Maybe later we could talk more privately."
"Whenever you want," I promised. "Maybe we…
I got interrupted. I saw blinks of a vision appear in Alice's head and turned my head back to the living room. Bonnie already made her way over to Alice, who just chugged the rest of her drink.
"Here, let me…" Bonnie reached for Alice's hand with a pleasant smile, her heartbeat told me that for some reason the girl felt nervous next to my tiny sister.
Instead of grabbing her glass though, Bonnie grabbed Alice's wrist and her heart…it sounded like she just ran a marathon. I was about to react, but Alice told me not to in her thoughts.
"This has to happen." She spoke inspired. The only thing I could uncover from her mind was a small thought that her visions were starting to come true. And Bonnie's reaction to their touch was just the beginning.
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