Bella's Little Sister

Chapter 20

If it weren't for the firm and consistent grip Edward was keeping on my hand, I definitely would have fallen asleep by now. Mr. Berty, our English teacher, had turned on an old, black-and-white copy of Romeo and Juliet, and was silently quoting every word. I was not able to see how Jessica, Angela and Eric were reacting to it, but Mike was desperately trying to stay awake; he kept jerking his head around every time he nodded off.

"I hate being celebrated." I was making no effort at all to appear as though I were paying any attention to the film, though I probably should have been. Instead, my gaze was lowered to the desktop before me. "Did Bella put Alice up to this?"

"There are worse tragedies," Edward was smirking as he responded, which gave me my answer. "I mean, look at Romeo. He killed his true love out of sheer stupidity."

I exhaled heavily as I flickered my gaze to the TV screen at the front of the room. "So that's a yes."

Edward laughed quietly as he continued on. "Though I do envy Romeo one thing." He was staring at the screen, though it was feigned interest.

My eyes found his face after a moment, but he was still staring straight ahead. "And what's that? The obviously beautiful sort of thing?"

Edward waited a moment before speaking, his gaze on my face, though I had quickly averted my eyes from him. "The suicide."

Now he had my full and undivided attention. "What?"

He explained that it was nearly impossible for some people, but I knew what he meant. He was taking care not to say the word 'vampire', seeing as how we were in a classroom full of humans who had no knowledge of the supernatural. "For humans, a little poison. A dagger to the heart... there's so many different options."

I studied the look of thoughtfulness in his eyes as he pondered on the idea. "Why would you think about that? Are you..." Sighing, I pulled away from his cool touch. "I mean... are you not happy?"

Edward's eyes quickly met mine. "Of course I'm happy. Jess, I haven't thought about it since I met you." Despite my resistance, he took my hand again, holding it firmly in his grasp. "But I did have to consider the option once."

There was no need for him to elaborate, and I did not need to see the look in his eyes to know what he was hinting at, either. He was talking about a few months ago when I had gone to meet James. After a minute, I averted my gaze again, feeling guilty. My fingers moved to the bracelet on his wrist, playing with the ends of string tying it together. Edward was silent as he watched me, waiting. Taking a deep breath, I slowly returned my eyes to his face.

"I didn't know if I'd get to you in time." He was speaking quietly, his gaze once again focused on the TV. "I had to come up with some kind of plan."

I had a feeling that I did not want to know, but I questioned him on it anyway. "What was the plan?"

"That I'd go to Italy and provoke the Volturi."

Just before I could ask what the Volturi even was, Mr. Berty asked Edward to repeat the last few lines of iambic pentameter. Edward did not meet my gaze again. 

Alice had been right about me loving the dress she had given me. It was a silky, dark green with a black jacket to match. At first, I had wondered how she had even known what my favorite color was, but then realized my sister probably had something to do with it.

Bella had gone over to the Cullens' early, wanting to help Alice in any way she could. It was not hard to tell that my father very much wanted to say something to me about trying to have fun, but my expression kept him from doing so.