The month that followed the accident was uneasy, tense, and, at first, embarrassing.
Bella was the center of attention for the rest of that week. Tyler Crowley, the boy who'd almost killed her, was impossible. Following her around, obsessed with making amends somehow. She had tried to explain that she just wanted him to forget about it, but he remained insistent. Even though I was upset with him for the accident, I was starting to agree with Bella. He followed us everywhere, even sat at our already crowded lunch table. Even Mike was less friendly than usual towards him.
No one seemed concerned about Edward, though Bella had explained over and over that he was the hero â how he had pulled her out of the way and had "nearly been crushed." I doubted that, though. Jessica, Mike, Eric, and everyone else always commented that they hadn't even seen him there until the van was pulled away.
I wondered to myself why no else had seen him standing so far away before he was suddenly saving my sister's life.
People avoided him as usual. The Cullens and the Hales sat at the same table as always, not eating, talking only among themselves. None of them, especially Christian or Edward, glanced our way.
When they sat next to us in class, as far away from us as the tables would allow, Edward seemed totally unaware of my sister's presence. I know Christian tried to hide it, but I could see the faintest movement from his eyes when he would glance my way.
From his explanation before, I could only guess that he was trying to protect us. I just didn't know from what.
I wanted very much to talk to him, and the day after the accident I tried. The last time I'd seen him, he was vaguely warning me of something I still didn't fully understand. And it seemed Bella was getting even less from Edward. But no matter how he'd done it, he had in fact saved her life, so for that he had my gratitude.
They were already seated when we got to Biology, looking straight ahead. I sat down, expecting him to turn toward me. He showed no sign that he realized I was there.
"Hello, Christian," I said pleasantly.
He turned his head a fraction toward me without meeting my gaze, nodded once, and then looked the other way.
And that was the last contact I'd had with him, though he was there, a foot away from me, every day. I watched him sometimes, unable to stop myselfðfrom a distance, though, in the cafeteria or parking lot. I watched as his golden eyes grew darker day by day. But in class I gave no more notice that he existed than he showed toward me. The anticipation was killing me. He gave me a warning, didn't specify what he was warning me against, and then just blew me off.
Bella was doing much worse, though. She couldn't get anything out of Edward. She seemed miserable, like whatever light she was holding onto had gone out. Despite her lies, Mom called a few times worried about Bella's depression. She would wake up constantly in the middle of the night, but all she would share about her dreams was that they contained Edward.
Mike, at least, seemed pleased by the obvious coolness between Bella and her lab partner. She had told me that he'd been worried that Edward's rescue might have impressed her. He grew more confident, sitting on the edge of her table to talk before Biology class started, ignoring Edward as completely as he ignored us.
The snow washed away for good after that one dangerously icy day. Mike was disappointed he'd never gotten to stage his snowball fight, but pleased that the beach trip would soon be possible. The rain continued heavily, though, and the weeks passed.
Jessica made us aware of another event looming on the horizon â she called the first Tuesday of March to ask Bella's permission to invite Mike to the girls' choice spring dance in two weeks. Bella assured her that she wasn't going so it'd be no problem. Dancing was outside her range of abilities.
The next day, we were surprised that Jessica wasn't her usual gushing self in Trig and Spanish. She was silent as she walked by my side between classes and I was afraid to ask her why. If Mike had turned her down, she wouldn't want Bella to know.
My thoughts were reinforced during lunch when Jessica sat as far from Mike as possible, chatting animatedly with Eric. Mike was unusually quiet.
Mike was still quiet as he walked us to class, the uncomfortable look on his face a bad sign. He said nothing until we reached our seats. Mike, taking up his usual perch at Bella's side, I turned to face them, ignoring Christian as much as I was sure Bella was ignoring Edward.
"So," Mike said, looking at the floor, "Jessica asked me to the spring dance."
"That's great." Bella sounded pretty enthusiastic. "You'll have a lot of fun with Jessica."
"Well..." He floundered as he stared at my sister, who was smiling. "I told her I had to think about it."
"Why would you do that?"
"I was wondering if... well, if you might be planning to ask me."
From where I was sitting, I saw Edward's head tilt ever-so slightly in their direction.
"Mike, I think you should tell her yes." Bella explained to Mike, after reassuring him she hadn't asked anyone else, that she wasn't even going to the dance. In what seemed like an attempt to shift the focus from herself, my twin looked at me. "Have you asked anyone yet, Alex? You like to dance."
With this, I felt my face heat up. Christian stared at me incredulously, probably because I'd told him he couldn't call me Alex.
I gave my sister a look that could freeze Arizona over. "I haven't asked anyone, no. Do you still plan on going to Seattle that day?" I gave her a sickly sweet smile, letting her know she wasn't going to turn this on me so easily, which only grew wider when it became obvious to us both that Edward was now full-on staring at her.
Christian, unfortunately, was still looking at me. As Edward opened his mouth to speak to my sister, I turned back around, trying to ignore my own lab partner when he spoke.
"You're going to the dance?" He sounded almost sheepish.
"I haven't decided."
"Were you going to ask someone?"
"Maybe Eric." The look on this boy's face! I couldn't decide if I should laugh or run away. "He seems nice enough and I think he might like me. I bet he'd say yes."
In all reality, I had zero intention of asking Eric. He was friendly, of course, but even if I could work up the courage to ask anyone, it wouldn't be him. Christian didn't know that, though, and my answer to his question seemed to annoy him. He didn't talk the rest of the class.
On the way out, Bella dropped her books and it was none other than Edward who helped her gather them. She straightened almost immediately after and stalked out of the room, grabbing my arm and dragging me along with her.
Gym was brutal. We'd moved on to basketball. My team never passed me the ball, for which I was thankful, but Bella fell down a lot, sometimes taking others with her. She seemed more distracted than usual. That, I could understand, and could also relate. The Cullens hadn't spoken to either of us in a while and out of nowhere they thought to just spring up a conversation. It was infuriating.
Leaving at the end of the day was, as always, a relief. I almost ran to the truck. It had only suffered minimal damage in the accident. We'd had to replace the taillights, and if the truck had had a real paint job, we would've had to touch that up. Tyler Crowley's parents had to sell their van for parts.
I almost had a stroke when I rounded the corner and saw a tall, dark figure leaning against the side of our truck. Then I realized it was only Eric and started walking again.
"Hi Eric." Bella said.
"Hey, Bella!" He hesitated a second. "Hi, Alexandra."
I nodded my head towards him. "What's up?"
"Uh, I was just wondering... if you would go to the spring dance with me?" His voice broke on the last word.
"I thought it was girl's choice."
"Well, yeah," he admitted, shamefaced.
I stole a glance at Bella who had already climbed into the drivers side of the truck and then turned back to Eric. "Thanks for asking, but Bella wanted me to go with her to Seattle that day."
"Oh," he said, "well, maybe next time."
"Sure," I agreed. Mentally, I hit myself; I didn't want him to take that too literally.
He slouched off back toward the school. I heard a low chuckle.
Christian was walking past the front of the truck, looking straight forward, his lips pressed together. I yanked the door open and jumped inside, slamming it loudly behind me. Bella revved the engine deafeningly and reversed out into the aisle. Edward was already in his car, two spaces down, sliding smoothly out in front of us, cutting us off. He stopped there â to wait for his family; I could see four of them walking this way, Christian had already climbed in.
Directly behind us, Tyler Crowley was in his newly acquired used Sentra, waving to Bella. She didn't acknowledge him.
While I was sitting there, looking everywhere besides the car in front of me, I heard a knock at the driver's side window. I looked over; it was Tyler. As I looked back in my mirrors, I saw his car still running, door open. Bella cranked down the window halfway before giving up.
"Sorry, Tyler. I'm stuck behind Cullen." She said, annoyed.
"Oh, I know. I just wanted to ask you something while we're stuck here." He grinned.
I almost laughed out loud. Is this really about to happen to her again? As much as I feel for my sister, this was becoming hilarious.
"Will you ask me to the spring dance?" He continued.
"I'm not going to be in town, Tyler." Her voice sounded pretty sharp, poor guy.
"Yeah... Mike said that."
"Then whyâ"
He shrugged. "I was hoping you were just letting him down easy."
"Sorry Tyler," she said, "I really am going out of town."
"That's cool. We still have prom."
Before she could reply, he was already sauntering back to his car. It was when Bella cranked the window back up that I couldn't hold back anymore, I cackled madly beside her.
"I really don't see the humor." Oh, she was really annoyed.
Looking forward now, I saw that Mr. Give My Sister a Hard Time also seemed to be laughing. I hit her arm and pointed towards him. She let out a heavy breath, angry, and revved the engine again.
But they were all in, and Edward was speeding away. She drove us home slowly, muttering the whole way.
When we got home, Bella decided to make chicken enchiladas for dinner. It was a long process, so I had plenty of free time. While she was simmering the vegetables, the phone rang. I almost didn't answer it, but it might've been Dad.
It was Jessica and she was jubilant; Mike had caught her after school to accept her invitation. I celebrated with her briefly. She had to go, she wanted to call Angela and Lauren to tell them. I suggested â with casual innocence â that maybe Angela, the shy girl who had Biology with Bella and I, could ask Eric. And Lauren, a standoffish girl who had always ignored us at the lunch table, could ask Tyler. Jess thought that was a great idea.
After I hung up, I went to talk to Bella about class today. She was still muttering to herself, trying to make sense of Edward Cullen.
She confided in me that she was feeling a little absorbed by him and that he had told her today that they shouldn't be friends. She seemed very bothered, so I reminded her of Christian's vague warning. She wasn't buying it, though.
"I can leave him alone. I will leave him alone. Then, hopefully some school in the Southwest, or maybe Hawai'i, will offer me a scholarship and I can get out of here." She said as she finished the enchiladas and put them in the oven.
I left it at that, retreating to the living room to wait for Dad.
He seemed suspicious when he came home and smelled the green peppers. I couldn't blame him â 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 Bella in the kitchen.
"Dad?" Bella asked when he was almost done.
"Yeah?"
"Um, I just wanted to let you know that Alex and I are going to Seattle a week from Saturday... if that's okay?"
"Why?" He sounded surprised as he looked between us, as if he were unable to imagine something that Forks couldn't offer.
"Well, Alex wanted to get a few books. The library here is pretty limited â¼ and maybe look at some clothes."
"That truck probably doesn't get very good gas mileage," he said.
"We'll stop in Montesano and Olympia." I chimed in.
"Seattle is a big city â you could get lost. Do you want me to come with you?"
I hung my head in horror.
"I can read a map and we'll probably be buried in books all day. Very boring," Bella saved.
The next morning, when Bella pulled into the parking lot, she parked as far as possible from the silver Volvo. As we got out of the cab, the keys fell from Bella's hands into a puddle at her feet. I watched as she bent to pick it up, but a white hand flashed out and grabbed it before she could. She jerked upright and we both looked over. Edward and Christian were standing before us.
"How do you do that?" Bella asked, irritated.
"Do what?" Edward held our keys out as he spoke, dropping them into Bella's hand.
"Appear out of thin air."
"Bella, it's not my fault if you are exceptionally unobservant." His voice was quiet.
I started at this, but Christian looped his arm in mine and began to drag me from them. I tried to break his grip, but it was ironclad. I kept trying to turn around to watch my sister and eventually saw her walking away, toward the school, but Edward easily kept up. The frustration on her face was clear as day.
"Could you be more dense, Alex?" I heard Christian say beside me.
Shocked, I turned to face him. He had stopped walking, but held firm on my arm. "First, don't call me that. Second, excuse me?"
"Bella calls you that." He said, nonchalantly.
"My family are the only people who can," I narrowed my eyes at him, "but that's not the point. How am Iâ"
"He's obviously trying to ask your sister out." He interrupted me.
I stared at him in disbelief. "I'm sorry, how is that obvious?"
"He's asking to take her to Seattle on the day of the dance." He didn't answer my question.
"Why? Her and I are going together â not much of a date setting."
"Oh... no you're not," he continued, letting go of my arm, but putting his arm around my shoulders, "You and I have plans that day." He saw surprise color my face again. "I didn't tell you? Oops."
Not wanting to be a part of this conversation anymore, I wrenched myself free from his grip, although I'm sure he just let me go, and stalked over to Bella just in time to hear Edward say, with a devilish grin on his face, "You should really stay away from me. I'll see you in class." I'm beginning to see the "family" resemblance.
Bella gave me a look that said later and together we walked to class, not saying a word.