Twilight OC Rewrite

Chapter Nine: Theory

"Can we ask just one more?" I pleaded as Edward accelerated much too quickly down the quiet street.

He didn't seem to be paying any attention to the road from what I could see from the backseat. Christian was staring at my intently, not worrying about the driver's skills. He hadn't taken his eyes off me since we got into the car, and I tried my best not to stare back.

Edward sighed. "One," he agreed. His lips pressed together in a cautious line.

"Well... you said you knew we hadn't gone into the bookstore, and that we had gone south. I was just wondering how you knew that."

He looked out his window, deliberating.

"I thought we were past all the evasiveness," Bella grumbled.

He almost smiled.

"Fine, then," Christian cleared his throat as Edward cast him an icy look. "We followed your scent." He stopped there, giving us time to compose ourselves. I couldn't think of an acceptable response to that, but I filed it carefully away for future study. I tried to refocus.

I wasn't ready to let him be finished, now that he was finally explaining things.

"And then you didn't answer one of my first questions..." Bella stalled.

Edward looked at her with disapproval. "Which one?"

"How does it work — the mind-reading thing? Can you read anybody's mind, anywhere? How do you do it? Can the rest of your family...?" Bella trailed off.

"That's more than one," he pointed out. Bella intertwined her fingers and gazed at him, waiting.

"No, it's just me. And I can't hear anyone, anywhere. I have to be fairly close. The more familiar someone's... 'voice' is, the farther away I can hear them. But still, no more than a few miles." He paused thoughtfully. "It's a little like being in a huge hall filled with people, everyone talking at once. It's just a hum — a buzzing of voices in the background. Until I focus on one voice, and then what they're thinking is clear.

"Most of the time I tune it all out — it can be very distracting. And then it's easier to seem normal" — he frowned as he said the word — "when I'm not accidentally answering someone's thoughts rather than their words.

"Why do you think you can't hear me?" Bella asked curiously.

He looked at her, his eyes enigmatic.

"Well, you remember that I said two exceptions?" Bella nodded. "It's you and your sister... But I don't know," he murmured. "The only guess I have is that maybe your minds don't work the same way the rest of theirs do. Like your thoughts are on the AM frequency and I'm only getting FM." He grinned, suddenly amused.

"Our minds don't work right? We're freaks?" Bella spoke up, hurt.

"I hear voices in my mind and you're worried that you guys are the freaks," he laughed. "Don't worry, it's just a theory..." His face tightened.

I interrupted then, "Wait a minute... is that what you were doing when I yelled at you in Biology? And again on the snow day?" I asked Edward, putting the pieces together.

He hesitated. "Yes. I don't have a theory about that."

Bella looked between us, confused. I hadn't told her the strange feeling I got. Christian also looked extremely confused, so I cleared my throat and elaborated.

"When Edward was trying to read my mind, I felt... something. Like someone was lightly trying to pull at my hair, my head, and my skull. Trying to pull it back like a curtain." I blushed and looked at my feet, embarrassed.