AS FEBRUARY TRANSITIONED INTO MARCH, the accident seemed like a distant memory. The stitches in my forehead were taken out, and my healed excruciatingly slowly; I still had to wear a brace to keep it from fracturing further. From the stitches on my hairline and forehead, I had this pink scar. I was given a prescription for migraines, whenever the headaches got too difficult to handle.
And since the accident, Bella and I were the centers of attention, much to my dismay. Fortunately for me, I had Anais to protect me. And Zain. Maybe Zain. In the days that passed, he stayed at a close distance, as if to keep an eye on me. Or Anais. I found it very confusing - I've had Dad and Anais to look after me, and now I have Zain. It felt so foreign to meet his incredibly molten gold eyes every time I turned around.
My heart fluttered anytime our eyes met, or when we spoke. Was it absurd for me to be in love with someone's voice? I didn't understand what came over me these past several weeks. Something awoke in me, I wanted to be near him, and to be with him. If not romantically, then as friends. If I wasn't attracted to Zain before, then I am now. Maybe it was the first boy with the beauty worthy of a God who was paying attention to me and had me adoring him. I wondered if he thought the same of me.
"Has anyone asked you yet?"
I blinked out of my thoughts, staring inside my locker when a familiar voice speaks to me. Anais leaned on the locker next to mine, her bright eyes curiously bearing into my darker ones.
"...about?"
"You're kidding right?" She grinned, but the grin dropped when she saw my genuine ignorance. "Don't tell me you forgot?"
"Forgot about what?" I raised my brow.
"Maybe you hit your head harder than we thought," she clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "You know - the dance?"
Oh. The dance. Dance. Wait - dance? I screwed my face up and she laughed at me. When was there a dance? I knew the school had annual dances, but what dance was this dance?
"I see I'll have to remind you slowly. We have a small dance a few months before prom to fund it, remember?"
I shrugged. "Yeah, sure, I guess."
"So, have you been asked? I know I've seen Bella being flocked by a whole bunch of boys. She's like the modern Aphrodite of Forks now - though I think it's because of the accident, and probably because she's the Chief of Police's daughter. Who wouldn't want to be in the spotlight and good manners of Chief Swan?"
I rolled my eyes at her rambling. "No, Ana, I haven't been asked."
"Good, because it's girls' choice."
"Even better." I shut my locker, my fourth-period Biology notes, and books in my arms.
"Do you have anyone in mind?" Anais asked, pushing off the locker.
I'd been so absent-minded lately, I hadn't been focused on my surroundings, or the events that had, or would pass. Time has been nothing by a fast-motion static. Everything seemed to just fade around me, I hardly paid attention to anything since the accident. So much so, some of my grades had begun to slip, but luckily, not too much.
Biting my lip, I dug into my thoughts. If I were to ask someone out...
Zain. The voice in the back of my head giggled. A heat rose to my cheeks. The beautiful boy who had my mind mushed into a lump a big blushing lump. It was strange to feel these things so intensely. I've had crushes before, but they've been short-lived and not at all so strong as the crush I found myself having on the dark-toned Cullen. It intensified with him being a sweet and understanding person. My heart throbbed thinking of him.
"Thinking of your Adonis?" Anais wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"Stop!" I pushed her away, embarrassed. She laughed more. "What about you? You got anyone on your mind?"
"No one interesting," she shrugged. "I thought we could go together."
"You want to go to the dance?" I was baffled, to say the least.
We've gone to dances before, but I was the one dragging her along. The dances usually were a bust and we'd go back to each other's houses, either watching movies or reading her Stephen King collection and listening to a selection of alternative music.
"I mean, why not? I'm feeling feminine this year."
I eyed her suspiciously and twisted to face her. Feeling feminine? "Are you possessed?" I reached over and pressed the back of my hand on her forehead. "Are you running a fever and having hallucinations? What's ten plus four?"
Her cheeks reddened and she smacked my hand away. "No! I just want to go to the dance! Do I need a reason to go?"
I studied her for another second. "I guess not."
"So, you wanna go?" Her face lit up, lips upturning into an excited grin.
"Why not?"
"Sweet! I've got some money saved up; we should go shopping for dresses!" She did a little jump with small claps.
"Did I hear shopping?"
We turned to see Alice behind us, she had an excited smile of her own. Today, she was alone. No Jasper in sight. She stood there in all her beautiful glory, patiently waiting with her bright smile while we processed her presence.
"You did." Anais replied a little slowly, most likely from shock.
"May I help?" Alice's amber irises flickered between us.
"With...?"
"Your colors, of course! I've always been good with fashion!" Alice cinched herself between our bodies. She was unnaturally cold through her cardigan. Was it that chilly today? I didn't think it was that cold, but maybe Alice had a circulation issue. She looked at Anais, "Have you thought about going blonde?"
"Blonde?" My friend hummed; her brows knitted together. "I haven't. You think I should?"
"I think you'd be pretty with blonde hair."
"Really?" Anais quipped nervously, twirling a stray strand of her magenta hair with her finger.
Alice nodded energetically. "Really."
"Oh, I dunno..." Anais' face went as pink as her hair. "I've always done exotic colors. I don't even remember what my natural color is."
"I bet you could pull it off - you look like you can." Alice encouraged.
"For real?"
"Yes."
Anais giggled, trying to hold back her blushes and broadening grin. "I guess I'll have to try it."
"It'll be worth it, I promise," the Cullen winked at her and then craned her head toward me. "Blue would look beautiful on you."
"Blue?" I perked up an eyebrow.
"Yes, a deep blue. It'll make your eyes pop."
"You think?" I like blue, I thought to myself, it was my favorite color second to purple. I imagined the color on my skin. A blue that deep would make me look like a ghost.
"What can I say? I'm familiar with colors." Alice flashed a confident smile.
"I'll have to take your word on that," I politely tell her seconds before the bell rang. "I'll see you later Ana. And thanks again, Alice."
"It's my pleasure!"
"H-hey, Faye." I spot Eric approaching my lab table. He seemed nervous and clammy while he fumbled over his words.
"Hey, Eric? What're you up to? Don't you have English this hour?"
"I d-do, I just wanted to...um..."
I opened up my notebook to my previous notes, the pages scribbled with diagrams of cellular insides and not-so-creative doodles on the sides of the lined paper. I heard the nervous edge in his voice as I readied my things for Mr. Varner's class. I glanced at him every so often, so he'd know I still acknowledged him
"Did you want something?" I asked as nicely as I could. I wasn't meaning to try and scare him away, but class was just about to begin.
"How's your hand?"
I wriggled my left fingers within my wrist brace. "Healing."
"O-oh..." he trailed off, twiddling his thumbs out in front of him. "Well...I was just, um...I was just wondering if you'd, you know, go to the spring dance with me?"
I paused, taken aback. He was asking...me? The surprise fluttered through my limbs like an army of butterflies. It kind of made me nauseous.
"Oh, uh..." I leaned back a little, not too far, just enough to adjust myself to the stool under me. "Well, the thing is...I'm going with Anais."
"Your friend?" His brows squished together upon hearing her name, and his face fell a bit.
"Yeah."
"Oh. That's cool. Sorry for bothering you."
"You're not bothering me, Eric. Thank you for asking me, but if you're also there, I'll save a dance for you." I promised with a smile. Though it didn't seem to encourage much, but it did seem to get a smile from him.
"Okay, so," Anais found me at my locker after school. She was flipping through some pages of some magazines. "There are some local dress shops in Port Angeles and some in Seattle. We can check them out this weekend if you want. Since the dance is three weeks away, I figure most of the female population of the student body will mow through them and clean out all the good dresses before then."
"Port Angeles? On a weekend?" I repeated hesitantly while I exchanged my books for my bag. "I don't think Dad would want me to go on a weekend. Too many randos drink on Saturdays, especially at night. Plus, there's been disappearances."
"Disappearances?" Anais looked up from her magazine of dresses. "What kind of disappearances?"
"Well, Dad said there have been people going missing."
Anais huffed. "Yeah, well, my dad doesn't tell me anything. I think it's to spite me."
I pat her shoulder. "Probably not, Ana. He's trying to protect you from certain things. My dad only tells me things so I can protect myself. And I'm telling you, so there."
"That's so stupid!" Anais folded her magazine up. "I'd rather hear it from my dad! Keeping me in the dark isn't doing anything for me but hurting me. I bet he's doing it to protect himself."
"Don't be angry at Andy, he's doing what any father would do, and that's protecting his daughter," I console her, latching myself to her, and embracing her. "Police work isn't easy, especially for parents."
She sighed, slumping her shoulders. "I hate it when you're right."
"Really? I kind of like it when I'm right."
"Get out of here," she shimmed out of my arms. "So, you up for the trip? Yay or nay?"
I bit my lip, visibly grimacing. "I dunno, Ana. I don't really like the idea of being in Port Angeles on a weekend."
"I'll bring my taser with me! And my mace! C'mon! Please?!" She begged me, clasping her hands together while giving me her best puppy eyes.
"Agh...! Fine!" I caved. "But only if you bring your taser and mace with us."
"Yes!" She cheered gleefully. "I'll ask my dad, you ask yours, yeah?"
I salute her. "Sure thing."
"Also, would you dye my hair?" She suddenly asked as we began our walk down the corridor.
"You're actually going blonde?" I gaped at her.
"Well, yeah. I've been wanting to for a while, but you know - low self-esteem and all. What Alice said this morning gave me the confidence I needed to push through."
I shook my head at her aloofness and laugh a bit. "Yeah, sure, I can do your hair."
"Groovy!" She squeezed me into a tight side hug. "You're my favorite best friend!"
"Tch, I'm your only best friend."
When Anais and I reached Bella, Eric had just scampered away from her. He, by the looks of it, seemed to have been rejected. Oh no. Did he ask her to the dance too? Light sprinkles of rain dampened my hair as we strode closer to the old red truck. My sister was about to hop in the driver's seat when she saw us.
"Hey, Bella," Anais greet her teasingly. "Isn't it a little early to be breaking hearts?"
"What?" She turned to us, confused.
My friend and I share a laugh, which only confused Bella more. Clumsy, easily embarrassed, and dense. I guess there was more to find out about her. Here I was thinking I had gotten her figured out by now.
"What?" She repeated.
"Never mind," Anais laughed still, wiping her tears with her glove. "I'll see you later, Faye."
"Drive safe!" I called behind my friend.
"Will do!" She waved her arm in the air while she walked through the maze of parked vehicles.
I turned to look at Bella again, a puff of white leaving my mouth as I sighed.
"Ready to go home?"
"Please."
As if there weren't anything else to surprise me, a tall and pale figure strode past us. I recognized the bronze hair that glistened in the light. Edward? My hand twitched. He seemed to gaze at my sister with a cocky grin that he held back. To my growing surprise, Bella reacted brashly, jumping into the driver's seat and slamming her door so harshly, I thought it'd break off brittlely.
"What the hell?" I raced around the passenger side. "Have you lost your mind?"
"Just get in, please." She was short with me.
"What was that?" I plop my bag at my feet and shut my door. "You did you have a brawl with Edward, or something?"
She doesn't answer me and revved the engine. Its deafening hum sent me into a weak stupor, unable to process her mind. Her expression was a mix of a thousand emotions. Frustration, anger, confusion, embarrassment, and irritation. Maybe even more, if I had more fingers.
I hurry to pull my seatbelt on as she pulled us into the aisle. The rumbling was the truck didn't bother me as much, the vibrations of its shakiness acted as a massager more than anything. It relaxed my muscles. The blaring of the engine had seemed nothing more than white noise now, a distant noise, and not very annoying. Despite being an old vehicle, I had gradually grown to enjoy it. Dad went out of his way to buy us this truck so we could back and forth, so I had to like it no matter what. I felt obligated to. He's my father, and I appreciate everything he's done for me, well, us. He didn't have to, not at all, but he did because he loves us. I close my eyes for a moment, the darkness behind my eyelids consuming me. Outside of my mind, I felt the truck coast to a stop, most likely already in a growing line of cars with teenagers waiting to go home.
"Did you have a bad day?" I glanced at my sister and her stubbornness.
"He's doing this on purpose."
"Who's doing what on purpose?" I questioned and then followed her line of sight. The infamous silver Volvo parked before us, not really in line, but technically. Through the back window, I see Edward's head in the driver's seat. I furrow my eyebrows. "What's this bozo doing?"
Instead of answering, not that she had any answer to give, Bella averted her gaze, away from the Cullen's car. From the agitated glare on her face, she almost wanted to do something incredibly rash and endangering to the shiny vehicle innocently in front of us. I don't recall seeing Edward and Bella having any kind of relationship, much less talking to each other. Not that it was any of my business, but her behavior struck me suspicious. I could only conclude they had a class or two with one another.
"Bella," I begin with a sharp exhale, leaning my elbow against my door. "Be honest with me."
"What?" She barely spared me a glance.
"Is Edward harassing you?"
She practically broke her neck as she snapped her attention to me, her expression a mix of bewilderment and fitfulness. "Where did that come from? And why do you think that?"
"Oh, please," I rolled my eyes. "I'm not blind. You've been acting weird for the past few days, not to mention ever since you declared that trip to Seattle. Something's bothering you, and every time, it seems to center back on Edward. Is he harassing you? I can tell him to go shove it and go stick a cactus up his -"
"Faye!" Bella blanched, cutting me off before my vulgarity slipped. "He's not harassing me. Quite the opposite actually."
"Huh?" I looked at her weirdly. "So... you're harassing him?"
She groaned, bopping her head on the steering wheel. "It's not like that. Far from it."
"Okay, so then explain it to me so I can understand."
"Can we just...talk about this later? Please?" Her eyes flicker back to me, pleadingly.
"Sure."
I wasn't willing to give up so easily. If she's covering for that boy's ass, I'll find out, one way or another. She'll find I can be just as nosy as she is. We get it from our dad, so we're pretty bad at being persistent and stubborn. It's a habit that's extremely difficult to break. It made me think, what was Edward hiding for Bella to be all up in his business? Was it about the accident? What did she see, or experience that would make her want to pry?
"Ugh..." I silently rubbed my temple, careful to not scrap the scar jaggedly running across my skin. I was beginning to think Bella was crushing on Edward and this little car stunt is his way of annoying her.
If there was anything I didn't like about myself, it was me being too nosy. If she were in a relationship with someone, it'd be her choice to tell us or not. I suppose Edward was nice. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him personally, and as far as I could tell, he didn't seem all that bad. That little argument Anais and I saw a month ago didn't teeter my judgment. People argued all the time, and that wasn't any different. My curiosity set in again. What did Edward do before and after the accident? I vaguely remember his presence across the parking lot of the school, nowhere near us. My lips pursed.
Oh great. Here I go with my Nancy Drew-ing. But it was suspicious. It was frustrating me a little. I hadn't seen anything. Before I even realized anything, I was shoved out of danger, and then bam, nothing. Lights out. I glared at the dashboard, the only thing I could glare at during my baffling thoughts overwhelmed me. My eyes wavered, lowering to the brace securing my wrist.
Bones are fragile, but with the right nutrition, they are strong. And I knew despite my bones being fragile, it would still take a certain amount of force to even fracture one. On that note, bruises were rare for me. Yet, I have one. Though it's not exactly suspicious, it's the way it's shaped and refusing to heal. A month and a half should've healed it at least halfway. I know nothing of how bruises should heal, but it not healing to red, purple, or maybe green, worried me a bit. The handprint was too large to be Bella's, and I couldn't get remotely close to Edward without some type of intervention.
I looked up to see if the line of cars had inched, only to see Edward's Volvo still in front of us, unmoving. Just as I glanced toward Bella, a sharp rapping shocked me out of my body. A round of profanities nearly rolled off my tongue as I shot my attention to my window. Tyler stood out there, grinning boyishly and perhaps sheepishly.
Confused by his sudden presence, I cranked the window down some only for it to become stiff and not want to go any further.
"Stupid thing," I muttered, a bit annoyed by the window mechanism. "Ah, whatever!"
It was stuck. I hoped I could get back up.
"Sorry Tyler, we're stuck behind Cullen." Bella leaned forward to look at the beaming boy.
"I know - I just wanted to ask you something while we're trapped here." He grinned shamelessly, and I knew. It was the question I'd been hearing everywhere today. For someone so bold, and also dense, I'm a little surprised he hadn't heard Bella's continuous rejections of today. "Will you ask me to the spring dance?"
Oh boy. I puffed my cheeks awkwardly. Asking a girl to ask him to a spring dance was not a way into the heart of one. I pitied him a little. Was he doing it because he nearly crushed us with his van? Speaking of, I saw his Sentra behind us. I assumed he'd been using that until his van got repaired.
"I'm not going to be in town, Tyler." Bella sounded sharp, annoyed. Her patience was used from today, not that I blamed her.
"Yeah, Mike said that." He admitted.
"Then why - "
"I was hoping you said it to let him down easy."
Oh. Well, I mean, I guess that was reasonable. And then his eyes focused on me. I totally felt in the spotlight. I did not like it.
"Don't look at me. I'm not going to ask you either." My straightforward wit caught him like a lash to the face. He wanted to look hurt but held it in for whatever masculine reason. I already had qualms with Lauren, I don't need another one. It wasn't his fault, but it would blood bath if she caught wind.
"Sorry Tyler," Bella spoke again. "I really am going to be out of town."
"That's cool. Maybe next time."
I back peddled. Did he just say, "next time"? For which one of us? Every molecule in me wanted to jump out of the truck and interrogate him. I didn't, for the sake of my clinging sanity. He was in his Sentra before I knew it.
Fortunately for Tyler, I had a new distraction. One with impossibly golden eyes and obsidian curls. Zain strutted past Bella's window, the last to be entering the Volvo. Before he got in, his eyes slipped back toward our truck, briefly making eye contact with me. My heart felt like a Hummingbird's wings, fluttering a thousand flutters per second. My face heated up. I was hyper-aware of the effect he had on me.
Before my mind could process it, the Cullens were off, allowing us to continue home ourselves.