His voice broke on the last word.
"I thought it was girls' choice," I said, too startled to be diplomatic.
"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. "Well, maybe next time."
"Sure," I agreed, and then bit my lip. I wouldn't want him to take that
too literally.
He slouched off, back toward the school. I heard a low chuckle.
Edward was walking past the front of my truck, looking straight forward,
his lips pressed together. I yanked the door open and jumped inside,
slamming it loudly behind me. I revved the engine deafeningly and
reversed out into the aisle. Edward was in his car already, two spaces
down, sliding out smoothly in front of me, cutting me off. He stopped
there — to wait for his family; I could see the four of them walking this
way, but still by the cafeteria. I considered taking out the rear of his
shiny Volvo, but there were too many witnesses. I looked in my rearview
mirror. A line was beginning to form. Directly behind me, Tyler Crowley
was in his recently acquired used Sentra, waving. I was too aggravated to
acknowledge him.
While I was sitting there, looking everywhere but at the car in front of
me, I heard a knock on my passenger side window. I looked over; it was
Tyler. I glanced back in my rearview mirror, confused. His car was still
running, the door left open. I leaned across the cab to crank the window
down. It was stiff. I got it halfway down, then gave up.
"I'm sorry, Tyler, I'm stuck behind Cullen." I was annoyed — obviously
the holdup wasn't my fault.
"Oh, I know — I just wanted to ask you something while we're trapped
here." He grinned.
This could not be happening.
"Will you ask me to the spring dance?" he continued.
"I'm not going to be in town, Tyler." My voice sounded a little sharp. I
had to remember it wasn't his fault that Mike and Eric had already used
up my quota of patience for the day.
"Yeah, Mike said that," he admitted.
"Then why —"
He shrugged. "I was hoping you were just letting him down easy."
Okay, it was completely his fault.
"Sorry, Tyler," I said, working to hide my irritation. "I really am going
out of town."
"That's cool. We still have prom."
And before I could respond, he was walking back to his car. I could feel
the shock on my face. I looked forward to see Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and
Jasper all sliding into the Volvo. In his rearview mirror, Edward's eyes
were on me. He was unquestionably shaking with laughter, as if he'd heard
every word Tyler had said. My foot itched toward the gas pedal… one
little bump wouldn't hurt any of them, just that glossy silver paint job.
I revved the engine.
But they were all in, and Edward was speeding away. I drove home slowly,
carefully, muttering to myself the whole way.
When I got home, I decided to make chicken enchiladas for dinner. It was
a long process, and it would keep me busy. While I was simmering the
onions and chilies, the phone rang. I was almost afraid to answer it, but
it might be Charlie or my mom.
It was Jessica, and she was jubilant; Mike had caught her after school to
accept her invitation. I celebrated with her briefly while I stirred. She
had to go, she wanted to call Angela and Lauren to tell them. I suggested
— with casual innocence — that maybe Angela, the shy girl who had Biology
with me, could ask Eric. And Lauren, a standoffish girl who had always
ignored me at the lunch table, could ask Tyler; I'd heard he was still
available. Jess thought that was a great idea. Now that she was sure of
Mike, she actually sounded sincere when she said she wished I would go to
the dance. I gave her my Seattle excuse.
After I hung up, I tried to concentrate on dinner — dicing the chicken
especially; I didn't want to take another trip to the emergency room. But
my head was spinning, trying to analyze every word Edward had spoken
today. What did he mean, it was better if we weren't friends?
My stomach twisted as I realized what he must have meant. He must see how
absorbed I was by him; he must not want to lead me on… so we couldn't
even be friends… because he wasn't interested in me at all.
Of course he wasn't interested in me, I thought angrily, my eyes stinging
— a delayed reaction to the onions. I wasn't interesting. And he was.
Interesting… and brilliant… and mysterious… and perfect… and beautiful…
and possibly able to lift full-sized vans with one hand.
Well, that was fine. I could leave him alone. I would leave him alone. I
would get through my self-imposed sentence here in purgatory, and then
hopefully some school in the Southwest, or possibly Hawaii, would offer
me a scholarship. I focused my thoughts on sunny beaches and palm trees
as I finished the enchiladas and put them in the oven.
Charlie seemed suspicious when he came home and smelled the green
peppers. I couldn't blame him — the closest edible Mexican food was
probably in southern California. But he was a cop, even if just a
small-town cop, so he was brave enough to take the first bite. He seemed
to like it. It was fun to watch as he slowly began trusting me in the
kitchen.
"Dad?" I asked when he was almost done.
"Yeah, Bella?"
"Um, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to Seattle for the day
a week from Saturday… if that's okay?" I didn't want to ask permission —
it set a bad precedent — but I felt rude, so I tacked it on at the end.
"Why?" He sounded surprised, as if he were unable to imagine something
that Forks couldn't offer.
"Well, I wanted to get few books — the library here is pretty limited —
and maybe look at some clothes." I had more money than I was used to
having, since, thanks to Charlie, I hadn't had to pay for a car. Not that
the truck didn't cost me quite a bit in the gas department.
"That truck probably doesn't get very good gas mileage," he said, echoing
my thoughts.
"I know, I'll stop in Montesano and Olympia — and Tacoma if I have to."
"Are you going all by yourself?" he asked, and I couldn't tell if he was
suspicious I had a secret boyfriend or just worried about car trouble.
"Yes."
"Seattle is a big city — you could get lost," he fretted.
"Dad, Phoenix is five times the size of Seattle — and I can read a map,
don't worry about it."
"Do you want me to come with you?"
I tried to be crafty as I hid my horror.
"That's all right, Dad, I'll probably just be in dressing rooms all day —
very boring."
"Oh, okay." The thought of sitting in women's clothing stores for any
period of time immediately put him off.
"Thanks." I smiled at him.
"Will you be back in time for the dance?"
Grrr. Only in a town this small would a father know when the high school
dances were.
"No — I don't dance, Dad." He, of all people, should understand that — I
didn't get my balance problems from my mother.
He did understand. "Oh, that's right," he realized.
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 too much temptation and end up owing him 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 to get it, a white hand flashed out and grabbed it
before I could. I jerked upright. Edward Cullen was right next to me,
leaning casually against my truck.
"How do you do that?" I asked in amazed irritation.
"Do what?" He held my key out as he spoke. As I reached for it, he
dropped it into my palm.
"Appear out of thin air."
"Bella, it's not my fault if you are exceptionally unobservant." His
voice was quiet as usual — velvet, muted.
I scowled at his perfect face. His eyes were light again today, a deep,
golden honey color. Then I had to look down, to reassemble my now-tangled
thoughts.
"Why the traffic jam last night?" I demanded, still looking away. "I
thought you were supposed to be pretending I don't exist, not irritating
me to death."
"That was for Tyler's sake, not mine. I had to give him his chance." He
snickered.
"You…" I gasped. I couldn't think of a bad enough word. It felt like the
heat of my anger should physically burn him, but he only seemed more
amused.
"And I'm not pretending you don't exist," he continued.
"So you are trying to irritate me to death? Since Tyler's van didn't do
the job?"
Anger flashed in his tawny eyes. His lips pressed into a hard line, all
signs of humor gone.
"Bella, you are utterly absurd," he said, his low voice cold.
My palms tingled — I wanted so badly to hit something. I was surprised at
myself. I was usually a nonviolent person. I turned my back and started
to walk away.
"Wait," he called. I kept walking, sloshing angrily through the rain. But
he was next to me, easily keeping pace.
"I'm sorry, that was rude," he said as we walked. I ignored him. "I'm not
saying it isn't true," he continued, "but it was rude to say it, anyway."
"Why won't you leave me alone?" I grumbled.
"I wanted to ask you something, but you sidetracked me," he chuckled. He
seemed to have recovered his good humor.
"Do you have a multiple personality disorder?" I asked severely.
"You're doing it again."
I sighed. "Fine then. What do you want to ask?"
"I was wondering if, a week from Saturday — you know, the day of the
spring dance —"
"Are you trying to be funny?" I interrupted him, wheeling toward him. My
face got drenched as I looked up at his expression.
His eyes were wickedly amused. "Will you please allow me to finish?"
I bit my lip and clasped my hands together, interlocking my fingers, so I
couldn't do anything rash.
"I heard you say you were going to Seattle that day, and I was wondering
if you wanted a ride."
That was unexpected.
"What?" I wasn't sure what he was getting at.
"Do you want a ride to Seattle?"
"With who?" I asked, mystified.
"Myself, obviously." He enunciated every syllable, as if he were talking
to someone mentally handicapped.
I was still stunned. "Why?"
"Well, I was planning to go to Seattle in the next few weeks, and, to be
honest, I'm not sure if your truck can make it."
"My truck works just fine, thank you very much for your concern." I
started to walk again, but I was too surprised to maintain the same level
of anger.
"But can your truck make it there on one tank of gas?" He matched my pace
again.
"I don't see how that is any of your business." Stupid, shiny Volvo owner.
"The wasting of finite resources is everyone's business."
"Honestly, Edward." I felt a thrill go through me as I said his name, and
I hated it. "I can't keep up with you. I thought you didn't want to be my
friend."
"I said it would be better if we weren't friends, not that I didn't want
to be."
"Oh, thanks, now that's all cleared up." Heavy sarcasm. I realized I had
stopped walking again. We were under the shelter of the cafeteria roof
now, so I could more easily look at his face. Which certainly didn't help
my clarity of thought.
"It would be more… prudent for you not to be my friend," he explained.
"But I'm tired of trying to stay away from you, Bella."
His eyes were gloriously intense as he uttered that last sentence, his
voice smoldering. I couldn't remember how to breathe.
"Will you go with me to Seattle?" he asked, still intense.
I couldn't speak yet, so I just nodded.
He smiled briefly, and then his face became serious.
"You really should stay away from me," he warned. "I'll see you in class."
He turned abruptly and walked back the way we'd come.
===========================================================================
5. BLOOD TYPE
I made my way to English in a daze. I didn't even realize when I first
walked in that class had already started.
"Thank you for joining us, Miss Swan," Mr. Mason said in a disparaging
tone.
I flushed and hurried to my seat.
It wasn't till class ended that I realized Mike wasn't sitting in his
usual seat next to me. I felt a twinge of guilt. But he and Eric both met
me at the door as usual, so I figured I wasn't totally unforgiven. Mike
seemed to become more himself as we walked, gaining enthusiasm as he
talked about the weather report for this weekend. The rain was supposed
to take a minor break, and so maybe his beach trip would be possible. I
tried to sound eager, to make up for disappointing him yesterday. It was
hard; rain or no rain, it would still only be in the high forties, if we
were lucky.
The rest of the morning passed in a blur. It was difficult to believe
that I hadn't just imagined what Edward had said, and the way his eyes
had looked. Maybe it was just a very convincing dream that I'd confused
with reality. That seemed more probable than that I really appealed to
him on any level.
