Bella's Little Sister

Chapter 11

Bella was waiting for me when I entered the bedroom later that day. She was absolutely furious, of course, for my having lied to her about finishing up homework in order to ditch school. I definitely kept quiet about the fact that not only had I ditched school, I had spent the majority of that time doing so with Edward. But, she had then said, seeing as how I had never committed this so-called crime before, she promised not to say anything to our father about it. Not only would my father have grounded me indefinitely, but he would have also called my mother to inform her as well.

I took my time getting out of bed the next morning. By the time I had finally emerged from it, my sister was dressed and ready to go. Bella gave me a withering look, stating that we would be late if I did not hurry. With a sigh, I had quickened my pace, if only to please her.

My mind was absolutely spinning as I performed my daily routine of preparing for school, which at this point, mostly consisted of rushing to get dressed and scarf down breakfast. My thoughts were centered on only three things, of which I was absolutely positive. First and foremost, Edward was a vampire. Secondly, there was a part of him, though I was unsure of how dominant that part actually was, that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Bella called up the stairs for me then, saying that if I wasn't downstairs in the next thirty seconds, I would be walking to school. Just before I left the room, however, I happened to glance out the window to see if it was raining outside. And while it was not currently raining, I shook my head anyway. For parked up against the curb outside the house, was Edward Cullen. Though I was unable to see his eyes behind the dark lenses of the sunglasses he wore, I knew without a doubt that he was very closely watching me.

My sister had reluctantly agreed to let me ride with Edward to school. The first thing she had done after locking the front door behind us was to stop on the porch after seeing Edward leaning up against his parked car. The second thing she had done was turn to face me, a look of suspicion crossing her features as I ducked my head to avoid her gaze. Finally, after a pleading expression from me-which I never used, because I never asked her for anything-she allowed me to go.

Neither of us really said much as we made our way to the school. Instead, we sat in a somewhat comfortable silence. But by the time he had pulled into the parking lot, however, I was more nervous than I could ever remember being before. Edward's amused smirk told me he was well aware of just how nervous I was, thanks to my rapidly beating heart. As he parked the car, I grabbed my bag and took a deep breath to center myself, though it did absolutely no good whatsoever. The door was open before I could even place my hand on it. Edward was sporting a faint smirk as he walked with me to the building.

"You know, everybody's staring," I told Edward with a blank expression.

Edward subtly pointed to a boy walking past. "Not that guy, he just looked." He smiled fully now, reaching out to wrap an arm around my shoulders. His fingers playfully tugged at a loose strand of hair as I shuddered at the coolness of his touch.

As we walked into the building, I deliberately avoided my sister's gaze, knowing her expression would hold a good amount of surprise at seeing me allow any sort of physical contact.

School had felt utterly endless, but now, as Edward and I walked along an outcropping of rocks, the time seemed to go by almost too quickly. After a brief internal debate of whether or not to ask him the questions I had been thinking about since last night, I decided to just ask, if only to ease my raging curiosity.

"Does a person have to be dying?" I began slowly. "To become like you?"

Edward paused briefly before continuing on. He did not meet my gaze as he answered. "No, that's just Carlisle. He'd never do this to someone who had another choice."