Bella's Little Sister Re-write

Chapter 6

We took our time walking through the crowded greenhouse, something my sister did not quite enjoy. I could tell she was practically itching to get out of there as quickly as possible, but the fact that I was remaining rather close to her as we walked stopped her from actually doing so. Every once in a while, Jess would reach out and touch the petals of various flowers. This was partly an effort to try and ease her nerves somewhat, but it wasn't having as much of an effect as she was hoping it would. My sister loved flowers, so much so that she had often helped our mother tend the gardens back home. Because of how forgetful mom was about pretty much everything, the gardens would have suffered if it hadn't been for Jess' upkeep with them. 

"What's in Jacksonville?" 

Both of us glanced up in surprise at hearing Edward's voice. "How did you know about that?" I questioned. Caught you, I thought with a sense of pride at watching him hesitate too long. 

"You didn't answer my question." Edward changed the subject. 

I felt the annoyance bubbling up inside of me at his constant negation of my questions. "Well, you don't answer any of ours," I noted, referring mostly to the questions Jess wanted to ask but would never speak, leaving me to do so. I never made eye contact with him as I turned my head slightly in his direction. "I mean, you don't even say hi to us." 

Edward faltered just slightly again. "Hi." 

His response merely pissed off Jess. Her lips were now drawn into a thin line as she shook her head. And because of that, I stopped walking altogether, turning around to fully face him. "Are you going to tell us how you stopped the van?" 

There it was. Another smirk on his face as he answered the question, as though he knew something we so clearly didn't. "Yeah. I had an adrenaline rush. It's very common. You can Google it." 

It was all I could do to keep Jess from running off as I stepped closer to her. "Floridians. That's what's in Jacksonville." Edward and I reached out to steady Jess at the same time as she slipped on a puddle of water in the middle of the aisle. My hand remained on her arm far longer than Edward's did, ensuring that she was fully stable again. 

"Can you at least watch where you walk?" Edward snapped at Jess, his tone suddenly brisk. It was such a drastic change from the near-teasing tone he had just been using that it caught both of us off guard. "Look, I'm sorry I'm being rude all the time, but I just think it's the best way." 

Jess clenched her jaw before shrugging away from me and pushing roughly through the crowd to escape outside. The best way for what? What is he even on about? I never got a chance to voice those thoughts, for Jessica ran up to me a second later, saying that Mike had asked her to prom. 

"It won't be weird, will it? I mean, I know how much he likes your sister." Jessica asked me.

I simply shook my head, staring at the door through which Jess had exited. "No, zero weirdness. He's not her type, anyway." After another few seconds, I spared Jessica a quick glance. "Sorry, Jessica, I need to check on my sister. We'll talk later." I hurried outside, stopping abruptly at the sound of my sister's voice. 

"Why did you save me?" She was fully glaring at Edward, her expression as angry as I had ever seen it before. "You could have saved yourself the regret." 

I could only watch their exchange in silence, too stunned to actually intervene on my sister's behalf. 

Edward's gaze bored into Jess, and I understood that he was just as shocked as me. "You think I regret saving you?" 

"I can see that you do," Jess responded in a huff. "I just don't know why." 

Edward appeared furious as he responded to that. "You don't know anything." Alice and Jasper appeared next to Edward, but Jess started to walk away before either of them could say anything.