ll-time occupation that requires my constant presence."
She smiled, too.  "No one has tried to do away with me today," she said lightly,
and then her face turned speculative for half a second before her eyes went opaque again.
"Yet," I added dryly.
"Yet," she agreed to my surprise. I'd expected her to deny any need for
protection.
How could he?  That selfish jackass!  How could he do this to us?
Rosalie's
piercing mental shriek broke through my concentration.
"Easy, Rose," I heard Emmett whisper from across the cafeteria.  His arm was
around her shoulders, holding her tight into his side-restraining her.
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Sorry, Edward,
Alice thought guiltily.
She could tell Bella knew too much from
your conversation...and, well, it would have been worse if I hadn't told her the truth right
away.  Trust me on that.
I winced at the mental picture that followed, at what would have happened if I'd
told Rosalie that Bella knew I was a vampire at home, where Rosalie didn't have a façade
to keep up.
I'd have to hide my Aston Martin somewhere out of state if she didn't calm
down by the time school was over.  The sight of my favorite car, mangled and burning,
was upsetting-though I knew I'd earned the retribution.
Jasper was not much happier.
I'd deal with the others later.  I only had so much time allotted to be to be with
Bella, and I wasn't going to waste it.  And hearing Alice had reminded me that I had
some business to attend to.
"I have another question for you," I said, tuning out Rosalie's mental hysterics.
"Shoot," Bella said, smiling.
"Do you really need to go to Seattle this Saturday, or was that just an excuse to
get out of saying no to all your admirers?"
She grimaced at me.  "You know, I haven't forgiven you for the Tyler thing yet.
It's your fault that he's deluded himself into thinking I'm going to prom with him."
"Oh, he would have found a chance to ask you without me-I just really wanted
to watch your face."
I laughed now, remembering her aghast expression.  Nothing I'd ever told her
about my own dark story had ever made her look so horrified.  The truth didn't frighten
her.  She wanted to be with me.  Mind-boggling.
"If I'd asked you, would you have turned
me
down?"
"Probably not," she said.  "But I would have cancelled later-faked an illness or a
sprained ankle."
How strange.  "Why would you do that?"
She shook her head, as if she was disappointed that I did not understand at once.
"You've never seen me in gym, I guess, but I would have thought that you would
understand."
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Ah.  "Are you referring to the fact that you can't walk across a flat, stable surface
without finding something to trip over?"
"Obviously."
"That wouldn't be a problem.  It's all in the leading."
For a brief fraction of a second, I was overwhelmed by the idea of holding her in
my arms at a dance-where she would surely wear something pretty and delicate rather
than this hideous sweater.
With perfect clarity, I remembered how her body had felt under mine after I'd
thrown her out of the way of the oncoming van.  Stronger than the panic or the
desperation or the chagrin, I could remember that sensation.  She'd been so warm and so
soft, fitting easily into my own stone shape...
I wrenched myself back from the memory.
"But you never told me-" I said quickly, preventing her from arguing with me
about her clumsiness, as she clearly intended to do.  "Are you resolved on going to
Seattle, or do you mind if we do something different?"
Devious-giving her a choice without giving her the option of getting away from
me for the day.  Hardly fair of me.  But I had made her a promise last night...and I liked
the idea of fulfilling it-almost as much as that idea terrified me.
The sun would be shining Saturday.  I could show her the real me, if I was brave
enough to endure her horror and disgust.  I knew just the place to take such a risk...
"I'm open to alternatives," Bella said.  "But I do have a favor to ask."
A qualified yes.  What would she want from me?
"What?"
"Can I drive?"
Was this her idea of humor?  "Why?"
"Well, mostly because when I told Charlie I was going to Seattle, he specifically
asked if I was going alone and, at the time, I was.  If he asked again, I probably wouldn't
lie, but I don't think he
will
ask again, and leaving my truck at home would just bring up
the subject unnecessarily.  And also, because your driving frightens me."
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I rolled my eyes at her.  "Of all the things about me that could frighten you, you
worry about my driving."  Truly, her brain worked backwards.  I shook my head,
disgusted.
Edward,
Alice called urgently.
Suddenly I was staring into a bright circle of sunlight, caught up in one of Alice's
visions.
It was a place I knew well, the place I'd just considered taking Bella-a little
meadow where no one ever went beside myself.  A quiet, pretty place where I could
count on being alone-far enough from any trail or human habitation that even my mind
could have peace and quiet.
Alice recognized it, too, because she had seen me there not so long ago in another
vision-one of those flickering, indistinct visions that Alice had shown me the morning
I'd saved Bella from the van.
In that flickering vision, I hadn't been alone.  And now it was clear-Bella was
with me there.  So I
was
brave enough.  She stared at me, rainbows dancing across her
face, her eyes fathomless.
It's the same place,
Alice thought, her mind full of a horror that did not match the
vision.  Tension, perhaps, but horror?  What did she mean,
the same place
?
And then I saw it.
Edward!
Alice protested shrilly.
I love her, Edward!
I shut her out viciously.
She didn't love Bella the way I did.  Her vision was impossible.  Wrong.  She was
blinded somehow, seeing impossibilities.
Not even a half a second had passed.  Bella was looking curiously at my face,
waiting for me to approve her request.  Had she seen the flash of dread, or had it been too
quick for her?
I focused on her, on our unfinished conversation, pushing Alice and her flawed,
lying visions far from my thoughts.  They didn't deserve my attention.
I wasn't able to keep up the playful tone of our banter, though.
"Won't you want to tell your father that you're spending the day with me?" I
asked, darkness seeping into my voice.
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I shoved at the visions again, trying to push them farther away, to keep them from
flickering through my head.
"With Charlie, less is always more," Bella said, certain of this fact.  "Where are
we going, anyway?"
Alice was wrong.  Dead wrong.  There was no chance of that.  And it was just an
old vision, invalid now.  Things had changed.
"The weather will be nice," I told her slowly, fighting the panic and indecision.
Alice was wrong.  I would continue as if I hadn't heard or seen anything.  "So I'll be
staying out of the public eye...and you can stay with me, if you'd like to."
Bella caught the significance at once; her eyes were bright and eager.  "And
you'll show me what you meant, about the sun?"
Maybe, like so many times before, her reaction would be the opposite of what I
expected.  I smiled at that possibility, struggling to return to the lighter moment.  "Yes.
But..."  She hadn't said yes.  "If you don't want to be...alone with me, I'd still rather you
didn't go to Seattle by yourself.  I shudder to think of the trouble you could find in a city
that size."
Her lips pressed together; she was offended.
"Phoenix is three times bigger than Seattle-just in population.  In physical
size-"
"But apparently your number wasn't up in Phoenix," I said, cutting off her
justifications.  "So I'd rather you stayed with me."
She could stay forever and it would not be long enough.
I shouldn't think that way.  We didn't have forever.  The passing seconds counted
more than they ever had before; each second changed her while I remained untouched.
"As it happens, I don't mind being alone with you," she said.
No-because her instincts were backwards.
"I know."  I sighed.  "You should tell Charlie, though."
"Why in the world would I do that?" she asked, sounding horrified.
I glared at her, the visions I couldn't quite manage to repress swirling sickeningly
through my head.
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"To give me some small incentive to bring you back," I hissed.  She should give
me that much-one witness to compel me to be cautious.
Why had Alice forced this knowledge on me now?
Bella swallowed loudly, and stared at me for a long moment.  What did she see?
"I think I'll take my chances," she said.
Ugh!  Did she get some thrill out of risking her life?  Some shot of adrenaline she
craved?
I scowled at Alice, who met my glare with a warning glance.  Beside her, Rosalie
was glowering furiously, but I couldn't have cared less.  Let her destroy the car.  It was
just a toy.
"Let's talk about something else," Bella suggested suddenly.
I looked back at her, wondering how she could be so oblivious to what really
mattered.  Why wouldn't she see me for the monster I was?
"What do you want to talk about?"
Her eyes darted to the left and then the right, as if checking to make sure there
were no eavesdroppers.  She must be planning to introduce another myth-related topic.
Her eyes froze for a second and her body stiffened, and then she looked back to me.
"Why did you go to that Goat Rocks place last weekend...to hunt?  Charlie said it
wasn't a good place to hike, because of bears."
So oblivious.  I stared at her, raising one eyebrow.
"Bears?" she gasped.
I smiled wryly, watching that sink in.  Would this make her take me seriously?
Would anything?
She pulled her expression together.  "You know, bears are not in season," she said
severely, narrowing her eyes.
"If you read carefully, the laws only cover hunting with weapons."