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— 𝐄𝐃𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 one to start the conversation in the car the next morning. "I'd like to apologize again, for my odd behavior yesterday."
Angela flicked her hand in a gesture to dismiss the whole thing. "Nonsense. Everyone has their off days."
Edward's hands tightened on the steering wheel as he nodded. "Right, yeah."
Angela glanced at him. He seemed tense. "Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked softly.
The boy sighed roughly. "It's that Swan girl. She...makes me feel something. And I don't like it."
Angela swore she felt her heart drop. "...Feel something?"
Edward looked at her meaningfully. "Nothing romantic or anything, I swear. She makes me...uncomfortable. That's why I tried to switch out of Biology yesterday — it's the one class I have with her. But of course, all the other courses are full."
The Weber girl felt her chest lighten at the reassurance, though her concern for his well-being only seemed to grow. "Uncomfortable how? She hasn't tried to do something to you, has she?"
Edward shook his head. "No, nothing like that. I don't-" He sighed again, before going silent for a long while. In fact, he didn't say anything until they were parked in their usual stall at Forks High.
The rest of the Cullens weren't there yet, which was surprising, but perhaps for the best. They weren't exactly having normal morning chit-chat.
Edward turned his body to face her. "I need to tell you something. But not right now. Stay with me after school for a bit?"
Angela furrowed her brows but nodded. "Of course. I'll just call my mom and tell them I'll be coming home a little late."
Edward nodded, though he still seemed very serious. "Thank you, Angel. Now let's get you inside. It's colder than usual this morning."
— 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐀 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 rest of the school day in a bit of a daze. She couldn't help but worry.
What if Edward wants to break up with me? She thought to herself, but then internally scoffed.
You would actually have to be dating for him to break up with you, Angela.
Every time she saw Isabella around school, the uneasy feeling in Angela's stomach would only grow. Angela hated it.
She liked to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, thinking only the best of one's character until proven otherwise — but something about the Swan girl made it different. Maybe it was because Edward confessed to being uncomfortable around her, or maybe it was because of how angry Isabella had looked when she'd come out of the office yesterday — but for whatever reason, something just felt off.
By the time school was over, Angela didn't know if she should feel more worried, or relieved.
She walked out of the classroom and found Edward waiting for her.
He smiled gently and reached for her hand. "Come on, Angel."
Angela took a deep breath and grabbed his hand. "Okay."
— 𝐄𝐃𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐃 another word for the entirety of their walk into the woods. Angela followed his lead and also remained silent.
After some time, Edward finally stopped. He didn't turn to face her just yet, as he kept a few feet between them, and she took this time to observe her surroundings.
Trees towered around her from all sides, and just up ahead to the right of a large boulder, there was some sunshine peeking out of the usual dark and looming clouds of Forks.
When Edward finally turned to face her, his expression was dead serious.
"I'm sure you've noticed some...odd things about my family and me." He started.
Angela simply shook her head. "I would never think badly of you and your siblings, Edward. You are all so dear to me."
Edward smiled softly. "I know, Angel. You are perfect in every way. But I don't mean how the rest of this town thinks of us...Think very hard. You know what I'm talking about."
Angela paused for a long moment to really think about it. She thought back to all of her interactions with the Cullens — which at this point, was a lot.
She took a deep breath. "I noticed that you guys don't ever really eat. At first, it hadn't caught my attention — but after a while...I started to feel weird whenever I would eat lunch and I realized it was because I never saw you guys eating as well. But I just figured that you all ate at home. Had a special diet or something."
Edward nodded. "Go on."
"You're also really cold. Given the typical Forks weather, I didn't think much of it. But even in the car when you turn the heater on and we touch hands, or you cup my cheek — your hands are still absolutely freezing. You're all very pale — which, okay, fair. We're all very pale due to the lack of sunlight. But you guys are even paler than normal...All of you, even though you're not blood-related. I shook the thought off though because I figured I was seeing into more than what it really was."
"Keep going."
Angela sighed. "Your eye colors change sometimes. One day, it's this beautiful amber gold — and the next, it's a dark brown, almost black. Both you and your siblings have different days of doing that, and it struck me as odd that you all have the same eye color and color-changing thing, but I just chalked it up to you guys wearing contacts or something."
She frowned as he only remained silent. She noticed the way he didn't look surprised at all. "How could you possibly know all of that? I swear I've only ever thought about it for a moment when I noticed each...oddity. But I always pushed it aside, figuring that maybe I was just overthinking all of it. I've never thought of it in a malicious way, and I never brought it up because I didn't think there was anything to bring up. But you couldn't possibly know all of that." Her guard was up a now.
What is going on? She thought to herself.
Edward shook his head. "I know you never meant it maliciously, Angela. You don't even have to tell me. Your mind speaks for itself."
Angela's frown deepened. "What does that even mean?"
Edward sighed. "It means, that I know you thought all of those things at the exact moment they filtered through your mind. It means, that I know you didn't mean it in any malicious way because I know the purity of your thoughts. It means, that I know all of this...because I can hear your thoughts."
Angela shook her head. "I'm-I'm not understanding."
Edward smiled softly before suddenly he was in right in front of her.
She gasped, taking a step back. "How-how did you do that!?"
The bronze-haired boy didn't respond, as he sped to the boulder and lifted it up easily — throwing it out towards the clearing where the sun was peeking out, causing the ground to tremble a little.
"Edward. What is happening!?" The Weber girl asked a little frantically.
Edward looked at her for a moment, before slowly unbuttoning his shirt and speeding into the open space where a beam of sunlight was peeking through the trees. Everywhere the light touched on his body shimmered. A beautiful collection of sparkling skin, so bright it almost hurt for her to look at.
Finally, Edward spoke.
"This is the skin of a dead person. Someone who died a long time ago. His heart no longer beats. This is the skin of a vampire, Angela. And you're looking at one right now."
