"I'm not going to class."
"Why not?"
Because I don't want to kill you. "It's healthy to ditch class now and then."
To be precise, it was healthier for the humans if the vampires ditched on days when human blood would be spilt. Mr. Banner was blood typing today. Alice had already ditched her morning class.
"Well, I'm going," she said. This didn't surprise me. She was responsible--she always did the right thing.
She was my opposite.
"I'll see you later then," I said, trying for casual again, staring down at the whirling lid. And, by the way, I adore you... in frightening, dangerous ways.
She hesitated, and I hoped for a moment that she would stay with me after all. But the bell rang and she hurried away.
I waited until she was gone, and then I put the lid in my pocket--a souvenir of this most consequential conversation--and walked through the rain to my car.
I put on my favorite calming CD--the same one I'd listened to that first day--but I wasn't hearing Debussy's notes for long. Other notes were running through my head, a fragment of a tune that pleased and intrigued me. I turned down the stereo and listened to the music in my head, playing with the fragment until it evolved into a fuller harmony. Instinctively, my fingers moved in the air over imaginary piano keys.
The new composition was really coming along when my attention was caught by a wave of mental anguish.
I looked toward the distress.
Is she going to pass out? What do I do? Mike panicked.
A hundred yards away, Mike Newton was lowering Bella's limp body to the sidewalk. She slumped unresponsively against the wet concrete, her eyes closed, her skin chalky as a corpse.
I almost took the door off the car.
"Bella?" I shouted.
There was no change in her lifeless face when I yelled her name.
My whole body went colder than ice.
I was aware of Mike's aggravated surprise as I sifted furiously through his thoughts. He was only thinking of his anger toward me, so I didn't know what was wrong with Bella. If he'd done something to harm her, I would annihilate him.
"What's wrong--is she hurt?" I demanded, trying to focus his thoughts. It was maddening to have to walk at a human pace. I should not have called attention to my approach.
Then I could hear her heart beating and her even breath. As I watched, she squeezed her eyes more tightly shut. That eased some of my panic.
I saw a flicker of memories in Mike's head, a splash of images from the Biology room. Bella's head on our table, her fair skin turning green. Drops of red against the white cards...
Blood typing.
I stopped where I was, holding my breath. Her scent was one thing, her flowing blood was another altogether.
"I think she's fainted," Mike said, anxious and resentful at the same time. "I don't know what happened, she didn't even stick her finger."
Relief washed through me, and I breathed again, tasting the air. Ah, I could smell the tiny flow of Mike Newton's puncture wound. Once, that might have appealed to me.
I knelt beside her while Mike hovered next to me, furious at my intervention.
"Bella. Can you hear me?"
"No," she moaned. "Go away."
The relief was so exquisite that I laughed. She was fine.
"I was taking her to the nurse," Mike said. "But she wouldn't go any farther."
"I'll take her. You can go back to class," I said dismissively.
Mike's teeth clenched together. "No. I'm supposed to do it."
I wasn't going to stand around arguing with the wretch.
Thrilled and terrified, half-grateful to and half-aggrieved by the predicament which made touching her a necessity, I gently lifted Bella from the sidewalk and held her in my arms, touching only her clothes, keeping as much distance between our bodies as possible. I was striding forward in the same movement, in a hurry to have her safe-- farther away from me, in other words.
Her eyes popped open, astonished.
"Put me down," she ordered in a weak voice--embarrassed again, I guessed from her expression. She didn't like to show weakness.
I barely heard Mike's shouted protest behind us.
"You look awful," I told her, grinning because there was nothing wrong with her but a light head and a weak stomach.
"Put me back on the sidewalk," she said. Her lips were white.
"So you faint at the sight of blood?" Could it get any more ironic?
She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together.
"And not even your own blood," I added, my grin widening.
We were to the front office. The door was propped an inch open, and I kicked it out of my way.
Ms. Cope jumped, startled. "Oh, my," she gasped as she examined the ashen girl in my arms.
"She fainted in Biology," I explained, before her imagination could get too out of hand.
Ms. Cope hurried to open the door to the nurse's office. Bella's eyes were open again, watching her. I heard the elderly nurse's internal astonishment as I laid the girl carefully on the one shabby bed. As soon as Bella was out of my arms, I put the width of the room between us. My body was too excited, too eager, my muscles tense and the venom flowing. She was so warm and fragrant.
"She's just a little faint," I reassured Mrs. Hammond. "They're blood typing in biology."
She nodded, understanding now. "There's always one."
I stifled a laugh. Trust Bella to be that one.
"Just lie down for a minute, honey," Mrs. Hammond said. "It'll pass."
"I know," Bella said.
"Does this happen often?" the nurse asked.
"Sometimes," Bella admitted.
I tried to disguise my laughter as coughing.
This brought me to the nurse's attention. "You can go back to class now," she said.
I looked her straight in the eye and lied with perfect confidence. "I'm supposed to stay with her."
Hmm. I wonder... oh well. Mrs. Hammond nodded.
It worked just fine on her. Why did Bella have to be so difficult?
"I'll go get you some ice for your forehead, dear," the nurse said, slightly uncomfortable from looking into my eyes--the way a human should be--and left the room.
"You were right," Bella moaned, closing her eyes.
What did she mean? I jumped to the worst conclusion: she'd accepted my warnings.
"I usually am," I said, trying to keep the amusement in my voice; it sounded sour now. "But about what in particular this time?"
"Ditching is healthy," she sighed.
Ah, relief again.
She was silent then. She just breathed slowly in and out. Her lips were beginning to turn pink. Her mouth was slightly out of balance, her lower lip just a little too full to match the top. Staring at her mouth made me feel strange. Made me want to move closer to her, which was not a good idea.
"You scared me for a minute there," I said--to restart the conversation so that I could hear her voice again. "I thought Newton was dragging your dead body off to bury it in the woods."
"Ha ha," she said.
"Honestly--I've seen corpses with better color." This was actually true. "I was concerned that I might have to avenge your murder." And I would have.
"Poor Mike," she sighed. "I'll bet he's mad."
Fury pulsed through me, but I contained it quickly. Her concern was surely just pity. She was kind. That was all.
"He absolutely loathes me," I told her, cheered by that idea.
"You can't know that."
"I saw his face--I could tell." It was probably true that reading his face would have given me enough information to make that particular deduction. All this practice with Bella was sharpening my skill at reading human expressions.
"How did you see me? I thought you were ditching." Her face looked better-- the green undertone had vanished from her translucent skin.
"I was in my car, listening to a CD."
Her expression twitched, like
my very ordinary answer had surprised her somehow.
She opened her eyes again when Mrs. Hammond returned with an ice pack.
"Here you go, dear," the nurse said as she laid it across Bella's forehead. "You're looking better."
"I think I'm fine," Bella said, and she sat up while pulling the ice pack away. Of course. She didn't like to be taken care of.
Mrs. Hammond's wrinkled hands fluttered toward the girl, as if she were going to push her back down, but just then Ms. Cope opened the door to the office and leaned in. With her appearance came the smell of fresh blood, just a whiff.
Invisible in the office behind her, Mike Newton was still very angry, wishing the heavy boy he dragged now was the girl who was in here with me.
"We've got another one," Ms. Cope said.
Bella quickly jumped down from the cot, eager to be out of the spotlight.
"Here," she said, handing the compress back to Mrs. Hammond. "I don't need this."
Mike grunted as he half-shoved Lee Stevens through the door. Blood was still dripping down the hand Lee held to his face, trickling toward his wrist.
"Oh no." This was my cue to leave--and Bella's, too, it seemed. "Get out to the office, Bella."
She stared up at me with bewildered eyes.
"Trust me--go."
She whirled and caught the door before it had swung shut, rushing through to the office. I followed a few inches behind her. Her swinging hair brushed my hand...
She turned to look at me, still wide-eyed.
"You actually listened to me." That was a first.
Her small nose wrinkled. "I smelled the blood."
I stared at her in blank surprise. "People can't smell blood."
"Well, I can--that's what makes me sick. It smells like rust...and salt."
My face froze, still staring.
Was she really even human? She looked human. She felt soft as a human. She smelled human--well, better actually. She acted human...sort of. But she didn't think like a human, or respond like one.
What other option was there, though?
"What?" she demanded.
"It's nothing."
Mike Newton interrupted us then, entering the room with resentful, violent thoughts.
"You look better," he said to her rudely.
My hand twitched, wanting to teach him some manners. I would have to watch myself, or I would end up actually killing this obnoxious boy.
"Just keep your hand in your pocket," she said. For one wild second, I thought she was talking to me.
"It's not bleeding anymore," he answered sullenly. "Are you going back to class?"
"Are you kidding? I'd just have to turn around and come back."
That was very good. I'd thought I was going to have to miss this whole hour with her, and now I got extra time instead. I felt greedy, a miser hording over each minute.
"Yeah, I guess..." Mike mumbled. "So are you going this weekend? To the beach?"
Ah, they had plans. Anger froze me in place. It was a group trip, though. I'd seen some of this in other students' heads. It wasn't just the two of them. I was still furious. I leaned motionlessly against the counter, trying to control myself.
"Sure, I said I was in," she promised him.
So she'd said yes to him, too. The jealousy burned, more painful than thirst.
No, it was just a group outing, I tried to convince myself. She was just spending the day with friends. Nothing more.
"We're meeting at my dad's store, at ten." And Cullen's NOT invited.
"I'll be there," she said.
"I'll see you in Gym, then."
"See you," she replied.
He shuffled off to his class, his thoughts full of ire. What does she see in that freak? Sure, he's rich, I guess. Chicks think he's hot, but I don't see that. Too... too perfect. I bet his dad experiments with plastic surgery on all of them. That's why they're all so white and pretty. It's not natural. And he's sort of...scary-looking. Sometimes, when he stares at me, I'd swear he's thinking about killing me... Freak...
Mike wasn't entirely unperceptive.
"Gym," Bella repeated quietly. A groan.
I looked at her, and saw that she was sad about something again. I wasn't sure why, but it was clear that she didn't want to go to her next class with Mike, and I was all for that plan.
I went to her side and bent close to her face, feeling the warmth of her skin radiating out to my lips. I didn't dare breathe.
"I can take care of that," I murmured. "Go sit down and look pale."
She did as I asked, sitting in one of the folding chairs and leaning her head back against the wall, while, behind me, Ms. Cope came out of the back room and went to her desk. With her eyes closed, Bella looked as if she'd passed out again. Her full color hadn't returned yet.
I turned to the secretary. Hopefully Bella was paying attention to this, I thought sardonically. This was how a human was supposed to respond.
"Ms. Cope?" I asked, using my persuasive voice again.
Her eyelashes fluttered, and her heart sped up. Too young, get a hold of yourself. "Yes?"
That was interesting. When Shelly Cope's pulse quickened, it was because she found me physically attractive, not because she was frightened. I was used to that around human females...yet I hadn't considered that explanation for Bella's racing heart.
I rather liked that. Too much, in fact. I smiled, and Mrs. Cope's breathing got louder.
"Bella has gym next hour, and I don't think she feels well enough. Actually, I was thinking I should take her home now. Do you think you could excuse her from class?" I stared into her depthless eyes, enjoying the havoc that this wreaked on her thought processes. Was it possible that Bella...?
Mrs. Cope had to swallow loudly before she answered. "Do you need to be excused, too, Edward?"
"No, I have Mrs. Goff, she won't mind."
I wasn't paying much attention to her now. I was exploring this new possibility.
Hmm. I'd like to believe that Bella found me attractive like other humans did, but when did Bella ever have the same reactions as other humans? I shouldn't get my hopes up.
"Okay, it's all taken care of. You feel better, Bella."
Bella nodded weakly--overacting a bit.
"Can you walk, or do you want me to carry you again?" I asked, amused by her poor theatrics. I knew she would want to walk--she wouldn't want to be weak.
"I'll walk," she said.
Right again. I was getting better at this.
She got up, hesitating for a moment as if to check her balance. I held the door for her, and we walked out into the rain.
I watched her as she lifted her face to the light rain with her eyes closed, a slight smile on her lips. What was she thinking? Something about this action seemed off, and I quickly realized why the posture looked unfamiliar to me. Normal human girls wouldn't raise their faces to the drizzle that way; normal human girls usually wore makeup, even here in this wet place.
Bella never wore makeup, nor should she. The cosmetics industry made billions of dollars a year from women who were trying to attain skin like hers.
"Thanks," she said, smiling at me now. "It's worth getting sick to miss Gym."
I stared across the campus, wondering how to prolong my time with her. "Anytime," I said.
"So are you going? This Saturday, I mean?" She sounded hopeful.
Ah, her hope was soothing. She wanted me with her, not Mike Newton. And I wanted to say yes. But there were many things to consider. For one, the sun would be shining this Saturday...
"Where are you all going, exactly?" I tried to keep my voice nonchalant, as if it didn't matter much. Mike had said beach, though. Not much chance of avoiding sunlight there.
"Down to La Push, to First Beach."
Damn. Well, it was impossible, then.
Anyway, Emmett would be irritated if I cancelled our plans.
I glanced down at her, smiling wryly. "I really don't think I was invited."
She sig
hed, already resigned. "I just invited you."
"Let's you and I not push poor Mike any further this week. We don't want him to snap." I thought about snapping poor Mike myself, and enjoyed the mental picture intensely.
"Mike-schmike," she said, dismissive again. I smiled widely.
And then she started to walk away from me.
Without thinking about my action, I reached out and caught her by the back of her rain jacket. She jerked to a stop.
"Where do you think you're going?" I was almost angry that she was leaving me. I hadn't had enough time with her. She couldn't go, not yet.
"I'm going home," she said, baffled as to why this should upset me.
"Didn't you hear me promise to take you safely home? Do you think I'm going to let you drive in your condition?" I knew she wouldn't like that--my implication of weakness on her part. But I needed to practice for the Seattle trip, anyway. See if I could handle her proximity in an enclosed space. This was a much shorter journey.
"What condition?" she demanded. "And what about my truck?"
"I'll have Alice drop it off after school." I pulled her back to my car carefully, as I now knew that walking forward was challenging enough for her.
"Let go!" she said, twisting sideways and nearly tripping. I held one hand out to catch her, but she righted herself before it was necessary. I shouldn't be looking for excuses to touch her. That started me thinking about Ms. Cope's reaction to me, but I filed it away for later. There was much to be considered on that front.
I let her go beside the car, and she stumbled into the door. I would have to be even more careful, to take into account her poor balance...
"You are so pushy!"
"It's open."
I got in on my side and started the car. She held her body rigidly, still outside, though the rain had picked up and I knew she didn't like the cold and wet. Water was soaking through her thick hair, darkening it to near black.
"I am perfectly capable of driving myself home!"
Of course she was--I just wasn't capable of letting her go.
I rolled her window down and leaned toward her. "Get in, Bella."
Her eyes narrowed, and I guessed that she was debating whether or not to make a run for it.
"I'll just drag you back," I promised, enjoying the chagrin on her face when she realized I meant it.
Her chin stiffly in the air, she opened her door and climbed in. Her hair dripped on the leather and her boots squeaked against each other.
"This is completely unnecessary," she said coldly. I thought she looked embarrassed under the pique.
I just turned up the heater so she wouldn't be uncomfortable, and set the music to a nice background level. I drove out toward the exit, watching her from the corner of my eye. Her lower lip was jutting out stubbornly. I stared at this, examining how it made me feel... thinking of the secretary's reaction again...