Becoming a Vegetarian

Chapter 6: Maybe I Should Leave

Monday, February 15th—11 P.M.

You'd think that after our little conversation yesterday, Edward and I would have made some progress in the friend department. You'd think. But that's not the case. I don't even get a little smile when we pass each other in the hallways; it's actually worse than it was before, if that's even possible. I have no idea why he's being such a jerk. I've got to admit, it hurts. Is it me? Does he not like me? Am I not good enough for his stupid standards? I mean, Alice said he was picky, but come on. I'm not asking for him to be all buddy buddy with me; all I want is for him to not completely ignore me and avoid me like I'm the plague.

I sigh heavily as I stand up from my bed and walk out of my room. As I stroll down the hallway, I see Edward coming up the stairs.

"Hey Edward," I greet quietly, hopefully, smiling shyly at him.

He bites his lip as he stares intently at me. For a second, it looks like he's about to say something, but instead he just walks past me without a word. I sigh again and grumble to myself. One of these days I'm going to explode and finally demand an answer from him. I slowly descend the stairs and enter the living room where I know everyone is. What I don't know, however, is what the Cullens have in store for me.

"Hey, Bella," Alice smiles brightly at me as if what I'm seeing is completely normal.

"Uh, hey," I greet cautiously as I survey the room. Esme, Carlisle, Alice, Emmett, Jasper, and Rose are all sitting in a circle on the living room carpet. Not only that, in front of each of them laid a sheet of Bubble Wrap—you know, those sheets that are plastic-filled with air bubbles. "What's all this?"

"Well, I know how it helped you yesterday to think of cleaning the counter as the equivalent of cleaning a fragile bubble," Esme starts, "so we decided to get some bubble wrap so that you can deal with some real air bubbles."

"Yeah, Bella." Jasper grins at me. "We know you've been feeling down lately because you keep breaking things, so we wanted to help you."

"Aww." I smile hugely at everyone, feeling my heart clench. "That's so sweet, guys. Thank you," I say sincerely.

Carlisle waves his hand dismissively. "Think nothing of it, sweetheart."

Alice stands and hands me a long sheet of Bubble Wrap. She grins at me. "We all had trouble with our strength, Bella. You're doing great, okay? Don't beat yourself up about it."

I smile and peck her black spikes in silent gratitude. I take the wrap from her and sit down next to Emmett.

He grins happily at me. "Let's pop some bubbles!"

Rose rolls her golden eyes. "Emmett, the point is to notpop the bubbles."

Emmett ponders this for a split second before shrugging his big shoulders. "Then let's not pop bubbles!" We all laugh in response.

Of course, with Emmett and Jasper, everything has to be a competition.

"Okay, guys," Jasper says after we calmed down. "For a whole hour we are all going to press on the bubbles. At the end of the hour, whoever pops the least amount of bubbles wins."

"That's stupid," Rose protests. "We all know Carlisle is going to win."

It's true. Out of all of us, Carlisle is undoubtedly the one with the most self-control. Carlisle shrugs in response and smiles as he stretches his long legs in front of him.