Shifting Moon Ch 20

My alarm pulled me from my dreams, and I rolled over to shut it off. Then I rolled back to my previous position and laid my head back on the cool pillow I was using. It was firm, cold, and felt just right. Then a hand brushed my hair back from my forehead, and I about had a heart attack. My eyes sprang open to see my arms wrapped around Edyth's thigh, "Tell me I'm still dreaming. It's a good dream and much better than the prospect of doing something so embarrassing in the real world. At least so soon."

A dreaded (But lovely) chuckle sounded from above my head, "What, you use me all morning and want to deny it at dawn's light? Are you truly so frivolous?"

I sighed, "There is no way I'm keeping my pride intact, is there?" I held her leg tighter and snuggled my head into her thigh even more.

She laughed softly at my actions and tapped my forehead with a finger, "Scoundrel, hurry and let me go. You need to get ready for Jasper to get here. You have no idea how much your morning training means to him."

I sat up and wiped the sleep from my eyes, I couldn't even pretend that seeing Edythe here first thing in the morning was beyond my expectations. I reached out a hand and held it to her face, "Good morning, my Sunshine." I really thought she would have gotten bored and left at some point in the night.

Letting her cheek go before I could do something as stupid as try and kiss her with my morning breath, I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. I changed into my morning workout clothes I had brought to the bathroom with me, and returned feeling ready for the day. When I walked back into my room, Edythe handed me my backpack and followed me downstairs.

In the kitchen, I started my normal routine of four eggs and a glass of orange juice. Edythe was watching my every move as if she wanted to burn it into her mind. I looked at my backpack, "Looks like I will have to take it with me today since Charlie isn't here."

"How about I take it and pick you up this morning? I can text Bella, so she doesn't waste the trip. You need it to change at the police station, right?"

"That would be very helpful, thank you."

"It is no big deal, Thomas. As pathetic as it sounds, I am hopeful to be even the least bit helpful to you, dear. Ugh, the feminist in me is screaming her head off, I can't believe I just said that."

I laughed, "Well, tell your feminist side that I promise to never take you for granted. You can also explain to her that I find myself just as devoted to making you happy."

After cleaning up after myself, Edythe and I left the house and found Jasper waiting in his usual spot.

"Morning to you two, have a pleasant night?" He had a large smile on his face.

My face went a bit red, but Edythe just secured my backpack on her shoulder, leaned over and kissed my cheek, "See you at the station." Then she ran off almost too fast for my eyes to follow.

I brought my hand up to the cheek she kissed and just stared at where she had disappeared off to for a few moments.

Jasper laughed at my almost confused expression, "Come on, Thomas, Let's go see how much you have improved lately."

About an hour later saw me on my back, yet again, looking into the slowly brightening sky, "You are still relying too much on your initial movement. You have to learn to change your strike as needed. Stop locking yourself into an action, it makes you predictable. And on the battlefield, predictable is dead."

I got up and shook off some dirt from my back. I made to approach Jasper but kept myself angling his position, so I wasn't open to an easy rush attack. I was trying to make use of my longer reach to keep him at bay. He swung his arm in a throwing motion occasionally to try and distract my eyes and slowly inched forward, trying to make it look like he wasn't any closer to me. He had used this trick on me several times, and I had finally learned to read it by looking at his surroundings as much as his feet. The small stick by his foot was more than an inch behind him now when he was standing nearly on it before.

He started a quick rush toward me, but because of the changing weather, the dirt was dry and easy to lose traction in, and his foot seemed to slip, he lost a little forward momentum. As quickly as I could, I reacted and grabbed his forward hand and brought him toward my own body. Then I twisted and put my free hand on his arm behind his bicep, locking his elbow straight, and dragged him face-first into a nearby tree.

What I didn't count on was the increased strength and speed I used, which caused Jasper to explode through the tree instead of being pinned to it like I planned. It looked like someone drilled a hole in the tree and set off a stick of dynamite. The trunk was about 5 feet around, and now the whole tree was falling on the top of us. I jumped to the side so the trunk wouldn't hit me, and Jasper lay face-first on the ground after having been shoved through the tree.

Before I could do much more than dodge falling branches, Jasper jumped up and shouted in excitement, "YES, that was a well-executed throw. Excellent, Thomas." He was brushing the splinters of himself as he spoke."

This was the first time I had thrown him when he wasn't intentionally letting me. I was simply amazed I had gotten a hold of him. We talked for a few moments about why it happened before we started our run to the police station. Once there, I checked on Charlie and took him to task for working so hard the last few days. He looked like shit, and I made sure to tell him about it.

This man needed a woman to settle him down and make him look forward to going home. "Bella and I get worried that you are working too hard, Charlie. You need to take care of yourself." I ended my rant there, and joined Jasper in the small gym room. Charlie had taken my complaints good-naturedly as he knew they came from worry for him and promised to take some time to rest soon.

Working out lately had changed a good deal. I was now beyond any weight that we could put on the bar without making a spectacle of it, so Jasper and I had worked out a solution. We put the 400 pounds of weights on the bar, and while it looked like Jasper was spotting me, he was actually adding resistance to the bar so I could get a solid workout.

The only thing I didn't like about this solution was that I didn't know exactly how much I was truly lifting. I had years of meticulously keeping track of that, and now I had no idea. But at least I was getting a workout once more. I had confirmed with Jasper that he could in fact, not increase his max strength as his body couldn't increase muscle any longer after the bite.

Now his strength was, like his stamina, connected to his appetite. The diet of animal blood made him a bit weaker than a vampire that was drinking human blood. It had something to do with the way their body processed the blood.

My strength, however, was continually increasing. Jasper was trying to come up with a way to gauge it, but the closest he could get so far was that he was nearly putting triple the weight resistance on the bar as I was pushing, putting my lift somewhere between 800 pounds and 1200 pounds. Jasper thought it was just over 1000 pounds, and I was doing a solid ladder of 5, up and down. So, I was doing 20 lifts at over 1000 pounds at a time and getting stronger as I went.

My count was interrupted by Edythe as she entered the gym beside Charlie, "Here he is, can I do anything else for you, Edythe?"

"No thanks, Chief... Sorry, Charlie. It was great talking to you. I hope we can do it again soon."

Charlie gave me a raised eyebrow and a somewhat discreet thumbs up before leaving Edythe at the doorway. She pulled my backpack off her shoulder and handed it to me.

"Thanks, Sunshine. I'll run and get a shower and be out in 10."

Jasper was removing the weights from the bar. "I'll head out and ride to school with my hummingbird, see you at school, Thomas."

After I finished my shower and got dressed, I went in search of Edythe. I found her talking to Jerry, the station dispatcher.

As I walked up, I heard Jerry saying, "Oh dear, you better let it be known soon. There is talk of girls looking to tie him up and kidnap him. And not just ones your age either. If I were 30 years younger... Well, enough of that. Good morning, Thomas. It was such a pleasure meeting your girlfriend."

I smiled at her, "Good morning, Jerry. I am glad she introduced herself to you. Will you make sure that Uncle Charlie goes home today? His idea of sleeping on that couch in his office isn't proper rest. I just know he will try and put in a full day, thinking he is fine."

"You got it, dear, he really needs to find someone to set him straight. It just doesn't do to be single for so long." She turned her eyes to Charlie's office. "I think my niece Betty needs to come take me to lunch today and see if she can't turn his head."

Edythe smiled at Jerry, "Well, it was wonderful meeting you, Jerry. I will see you a lot in the future as I will be taking Thomas to school in the mornings now, at least when I can."

I took her hand and walked her out of the building to her car, where I found a covered plate in the passenger seat. Putting it in my lap as I sat down, Edythe spoke, "That's for you. Mom spent all night looking stuff up on the internet and getting nutritional advice from Dad. We cooked it when I got home. Esme sure does love cooking again, I think she missed it terribly."

I lifted the plate cover to find what looked like a stack of pancakes. When I took the top one, I found that it was actually a Ribeye steak and pancake sandwich. God, I loved this girl and her mother.

As we she backed into a parking spot near Bellas's truck, Edythe swore, "Shit, I forgot." She then turned to me, "My family won't be able to come to school the next two days, it will be too sunny. And honestly, I need to hunt tomorrow. But I can still come to you at night, if that's ok."

My first thought was {This girl is out to test my self-control. I just know it.} But then a question dawned on me. "Will the sun hurt you like in lore?"

She laughed, "No, but it makes us stand out way too much, so we have to hide."

"Could I see? So long as it doesn't hurt you."

Edythe thought for a moment, "I can show you Wednesday after school. I just hope it doesn't shock you too much, it makes us look, well… not human, I guess is the best way to put it."

I tried to comfort her, "Your appearance under the sun won't change the way I look at you, my Sunshine. It is just something I would like to see."

She looked into my eyes, "Why that nickname for me? Something that I can never stand in with you in front of normal humans. It makes me both happy and sad at the same time, so I wonder."

I took her hand in mine, "Do you remember when you were human, and you walked out into the sunshine after being inside for a while, or the first sunny day after a long winter? The feeling of warmth and welcome that the sun brought to you. The way your skin seemed to open up and draw the heat into your soul?"

Edythe frowned, "It is a vague memory, one I haven't thought about in a very long time."

"I am sorry if the comparison brings back hurtful memories for you. But to me, that is how I feel when I see you. My whole being feels like it opens up and takes in warmth from your simple look. It warms me to the core that you want to be with me, and my heart feels like it will burst when you smile. I know these are flowery words, but it's hard to put feelings into words without overthinking them."

I leaned forward a bit, looking into Edythe's eyes, and they stared at me like they wanted to pierce mine to see into my mind. She started to lean forward as well, but then at the same time, we both became aware of a group of people standing in front of her car, a couple of them were even taking pictures.

I turned my head to look at them, a growl escaped my throat. These morons had just interrupted my first kiss with Edythe and my anger started to spike. Edythe's laugh cut through the red I was seeing,

"Did you seriously just growl at them?"

I looked down a little sheepishly, "They interrupted us, damn right I did."

"Come on, Tiger. Let's head to class." She opened her door and got out as I grabbed my backpack and got out, placing the plate and its cover back on the seat. I closed the door and walked over to Edythe and took her hand as we moved through the crowd still standing around her car. We both noticed that a couple of people turned their phones our way to get a picture of us walking hand in hand together. However, most were still focused on the car itself.

I dropped Edythe at her Government classroom and made my way to Art class, where Alice was waiting for me.

"So have you finished your painting for the project?"

I sighed, "I actually finished another idea I had, but it still doesn't feel right. I am not even sure what part of music I am trying to convey. How's yours coming along? Still waiting for your muse?"

She smiled happily, "Yep, it should happen in the next couple of days. I see the vision, but I still need to be there in the moment and feel it so I can get it on canvas. We have until Friday after this one to turn them in, so it will be done in plenty of time."

I noticed that several of my classmates were turning in their seats to look at me every once in a while, so I asked Alice, "What's with the new attention? You hear anything about me this morning?"

"Oh, that." She waved her hand dismissively, "It's just out that you and Edythe are dating now. I would imagine that Edythe is also rubbing it in a few people's faces to get the point across."

I smiled and turned my attention towards Ms. Ross, who was going over the different advancements that paint went through in the 1750s. At that time, it became optional to purchase paint instead of making it yourself, as was required before the market for such things became more commonplace.

After class, I walked with Jasper and Alice as was our habit and made my way to Government. When I walked in, I saw Bella in her seat and a classmate, Terry, walking away from her with a stony expression. As I sat next to her, I asked, "Another dance invitation you turned down, I take it?"

She looked at me with a martyred expression, "This dance needs to pass so I don't have to keep dealing with it. Girls, I have never talked to hate me because the boys they asked are waiting to see if I am going with someone yet. I have tried to make it clear that I won't be in town that day but still..."

I gave her my reassuring smile, "Don't worry, sis, it's almost over. Then you just have to worry about Prom."

She groaned and put her head on her desk, covering it with her arms. I just laughed at her melodramatics and turned my attention to the teacher. After that class was over, I made my way to biology, not surprised by the random looks I was getting as I walked. Once I walked into Biology class, I saw small sharp lances and blood typing cards passed out at each table, and made a mental note to warn Bella so she could get excused from her own Biology class before she had to be escorted to the nurse's office.

Mr. Banner started out with a speech about a blood drive coming and wanted to get everyone aware of their blood type to encourage them to donate. I had no problem doing the test and got what I expected. I knew I was O, not terribly rare, but regardless, with my shifting abilities now, there was no way anyone was getting my blood. I even made sure to take my card with me at the end of class, I planned to destroy it at home.

I quickly made my way to math and looked inside to see if Edythe was at her seat yet. When I saw she wasn't, I waited outside for her to steal a few moments with her before class started.

When she appeared, I walked toward her, and we stood together in plain view of everyone. I took her hand and asked, "How is your morning going?"

She smiled at me, "Better now, not that it was bad before. It appears Rosalie and Alice are spreading it around that you are now off the market. I have been getting some serious glares today. It is making me weirdly happy."

We talked a bit about classes, and she was highly amused by my telling of Bella's situation and her response to it all. She was still laughing as we made our way into the classroom just before the bell. The hour passed quickly, and it was time to head to lunch. Before Edythe stood up, though, she asked, "Would you like to sit with me today for lunch? I am sure everyone would be happy to have you at our table."

I smiled at the thought, "I can wait for you outside the cafeteria if you don't want to walk with me to my locker. Would you mind if I brought Bella with me?"

She smiled, "I think she will be otherwise occupied during lunch today, my slow brother is finally making a move, I think."

I shook my head in amusement, "Oh, she is going to love the attention that will bring. Though maybe the boys will stop asking her to the dance if they see them together."

We walked a bit slowly to my locker, taking our time to drop off my books. After closing my locker, I took her hand again, and we walked to the cafeteria. When I got in line, I noticed Bella walking to a table where Edward was sitting alone. She was only carrying a lemonade bottle with her. I guessed she was doing one of her 'I don't wanna eat.' days.

Edward saw me watching them and gave me a slight nod, which I returned. If he could read my mind, he would be getting the big brother don't you hurt her speech. But considering Edythe was standing next to me, I was sure he understood.

I continued to look around the cafeteria as we moved through the lunch line, and it was easy to see that most everyone was watching the table that now held Bella and Edward. Our normal table had Mike looking constipated as he watched the two talk. Tyler was trying to get Lauren's attention back on him and eventually succeeded. Jessica was looking at Mike like she was trying to muster up some courage.

I reached the cashier and paid for mine and Edyth's food over her objection. She didn't stop until I whispered that I only got about half my normal amount and would eat hers, so it didn't go to waste. She finally nodded, but I expected to have this conversation often. I knew that to her, money meant less than water. But I still have my pride, and I needed to feel that I wasn't only taking from her. I knew that every relationship had to be an exchange for it to be healthy.

When I sat down at the Cullen table, I had Edythe on my right and Alice on my left. The main talk around the table was the planned 'Camping' trip for tomorrow. Emmett was excited at the prospect of the bears coming out of hibernation. Jasper was just happy to spend a couple of days away from the temptation of human blood that was school for him.

Edythe was pushing the food on her plate around with her fork when she suddenly stiffened, and I saw the metal fork bend in half in her fingers. She turned to look at the table I usually sat at with a very unfriendly look in her eyes.

"That child is seriously pushing it." She muttered.

Rosalie looked at Edythe questioningly. It was amazing how Rosalie could convey her thoughts with just an expression on her gorgeous face.

"She is planning to make up stories to instigate bad blood between the boys. I don't think anyone would try anything like picking a fight, but the idea she wants it to happen..." She let the sentence fade off.

I tried to calm her down a bit, "No worries, Sunshine. She will get over it. She is far too shallow for deep thinking, so we will see it coming a mile away. But just in case, I will make a few comments over the next couple of days to get her in line. Jessica seems to have a good hold on her, she usually stops it from going too far."

I swapped out lunch trays with Edythe and then looked over my shoulder at Ben and Angela. I wanted to make sure they were not getting caught in the crosshairs. Angela was looking at her math book, probably trying to get the assignment done early, and Ben caught my look and gave me a not-so-subtle thumbs up and a smile.

Edythe smiled at my friend's antics and said, "Those two will make a wonderful couple. I will have to keep an eye on them and see if they have interests that lie in one of our company's goals. It's a little early to start scouting them, but they have great potential."

I smiled at the thought. It made me happy that Edythe liked people who were genuinely good. I reminded myself to ask her later if she intentionally helped people she took a liking to.

Alice stood up, "I'm going to go introduce myself to Bella, it's about time she meets me, and I need to remind Edward of something."

That sparked a thought, wasn't there something I needed to do during lunch? The bell rang and I shrugged it off as unimportant.

Gym class was nothing special. We had moved from volleyball to Badminton, and I was having trouble staying on my side of the court. The impulse to chase the birdie down every time was real. No way I was telling anyone about my impulse control issues, though. My life would be filled with cat toy presents until the end of my days if they ever found out.

As I was walking to my last class, I ran into Edythe. I knew her class was nowhere near here, so she must want to tell me something important.

When I got close, she smiled and said, "Bella had to be taken home for nearly fainting in Biology class. Edward was nearby and decided to take her home to make sure she was safe. She left her key in her truck so you could drive it home."

I laughed a little, "I forgot to tell her about the blood typing in Biology during lunch. I knew I was overlooking something. Oh well, it gives her and Edward more time to talk. It sucks that I won't be riding with you after school though. Will I see you before your trip tomorrow?"

She shook her head, looking a little sad, "I think me and Edward will push to leave tonight so we can get back earlier. I want to be ready to take you to a nice spot after you get out of school on Wednesday. I need to keep my promise and show you how I look under the sun."

"Then I will wait until then. Text me if you get in service range."

After we separated, I went to Spanish class and told Ms. Geoff about Edward's absence. She shrugged it off because she knew that his Spanish was superior to her own. In fact, me Edward and Emmett could test out of the class any time we wanted.

After class, I walked to Bella's truck and started it before walking over to Edythe's car. She parked close, and I had plenty of time for the truck to warm up. I watched as Edward's shiny Volvo entered the parking lot and picked up Emmett and Rosalie. Jasper and Alice, though, appeared to prefer riding with Edythe. I walked over with every intention of giving Edythe a goodbye kiss, but under the stares of her family and her own dark eyes, my courage faltered. I settled for a hug and a kiss on her cheek before retreating to Bella's truck.

Having seen that Bella didn't eat lunch and also hearing of her near fainting spell, I decided to stop for ingredients for her favorite meal. Goulash was different for every family, but ours used a mix of spicy tomato juice, Snappy Tom's if they had it, or spicy V8 if they didn't. Other than that, it was basically just spaghetti with elbow noodles instead of spaghetti noodles. This was a dish that was guaranteed to make her eat two bowls and complain about how full she was the rest of the night.

When I pulled her truck into its normal spot, I was happy to see Charlie's cruiser in the driveway. {Come to think of it, have we ever had this meal with Charlie?} I grabbed the groceries and my backpack and made my way through the drizzle that was falling. When I walked into the kitchen, Bella came over and started to go through the bags I set on the counter, "I got dinner tonight sis, don't want you fainting while cooking, now do we?"

She glared at me and kicked my shin as Charlie caught our words, "What's this now?"

Bella was quick to answer to keep me from exaggerating the situation. "They were doing blood typing in Biology today, and I got a little queasy. You know how I am around blood."

"Oh yeah, guess that makes sense. You kids have anything going tonight? We could hit the Blockbuster and pick out a movie to watch."

We both answered that we had no plans, so I recommended they go and choose a movie while I got dinner started. I had changed into my comfy house clothes and just started adding the browned hamburger to the Snappy Tom sauce and can of tomatoes when they got back. Bella was holding the movie in her hand and flashed the title at me, 'Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl'. That was an odd pick for Bella, but she answered my questioning look with, "Dad has never seen it. I thought we could all use a laugh, so it was an easy choice."

What followed was a normal, happy family night with Charlie enjoying a new movie and later filled with a bit of homework. That night, I was woken up by bad dreams a couple of times and slept rather restlessly when I forced myself back into bed.