I Believe That You Belong to Me

I forced the foul sensation that Edward’s hand on my shoulder gave me away. We were working on the stupid reading assignment again. It had been nearly a week since our agreement, and I was working hard at keeping my promise.

For the past few days, I worked hard to actually greet him in the morning, I tried hard to smile at him, and I even made an effort to keep up morning conversation. Then, while we were actually in school: I didn’t completely ignore him nor did I put my head down before class, or race to class to be away from him.

For the first few days, I thought I was making progress, I still hated the guy, but I truly believed that I could change that. Edward must have thought the same thing, because three days ago he started this new thing.

Whether or not his girlfriend is present, he will grab my hand, even in the wrong moments. I try my best not to jerk away, but most of the time the action is involuntary (I’m not a touchy-feely person). And if Edward isn’t grabbing my hand, he’s touching my shoulder, much like he is now.

I can't even begin to explain how annoying it is.

“Could you not do that?” I finally asked after reading in silence, as I had been for the past five minutes.

“You promised.” He didn’t look up from the page he was reading, merely stated a fact, as if his touch didn’t look weird.

“I promised to try, and I think I’ve done a good job at that, but this is really pushing it. You’re so cold.”

“I wish I could, people are beginning to give us strange looks, but I can’t.” His pee—I mean amber colored eyes finally turned their gaze from the book to me.

“I’d ask why, but something tells me you’ll say “another time”.” He smirked.

“You’re a smart girl.”

“I know I am, so when exactly is this “another time”?”

“Before the weekend.” I would have smiled at his answer, had his eyes not turned obsidian, before darting back to his book.

Edward pulled his hand from my shoulder and gripped his desk, not as tightly as the other day, but it was obvious that he was uncomfortable. It was then that I understood why he randomly touched me…it’s weird, but I think it eases his pain.

I don’t know why, but the revelation caused me to grab his hand, despite the fact that his fingers felt gross and cold.

“You really are a smart girl…thanks.” He entangled his fingers with my own, much to my dismay, but he relaxed, and that was all that really mattered.

“Don’t thank me, you’re going to explain things to me tonight.” The slight smile that formed on his face vanished the moment the sentence left my lips.

I didn’t care.

Tonight, he will meet me in the woods by my house and tell me everything; I’m tired of all this weird stuff.



Edward avoided me the rest of the day, which I was fine with. He even let me ride home with Bella without hassle, which I was also fine with. What I wasn’t fine with, was the look Bella gave me during the ride.

Her brown eyes that always looked so sweet, now were glaring at me. I hadn’t done a thing to deserve such a look, so I called her on it.

“What the hell is your problem?” I said this jokingly,

“You are.” But apparently she took it to heart.

The truck that was probably older than my grandpa stopped. I looked around and saw that we were nowhere near either of our houses. In fact, we were closer to La Push than anything.

“Um…what did I do?”

“You’re stealing him from me.” The glare in her eyes softened to hurt. A few tears actually fell.

“Who? Edward?” I asked in disbelief.

Bella didn’t answer; she couldn’t really because of her sudden downpour of tears.

“Bella…calm down. I’m not stealing him from you. I barely even like the guy, in fact, you have no idea how hard I’m trying not to hate him. And besides all that, I’m like fifteen and weird looking, he wouldn’t be interested anyway.”

“Are you serious? You’re beautiful…and he…he stares too much to not be interested,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“He isn’t, and don’t make fun of me,” I know that I’m not beautiful, I know that I never will be and I shouldn’t ever hope to be. My mother told me so.

“Ace, you should know by now that I don’t do that.”

“Well then I guess you’re blind…but then again you like Edward and he looks almost as strange as I do. Never mind I take it back, thanks for the compliment.” Without trying I made her laugh, I wish there were more people like Bella in the world, then I could be pretty.

“So you don’t like Edward?” She asked after she caught her breath. The abrupt change from joy to concern in her eyes freaked me out a little.

“Barely, there’s no need to worry. I don’t want him.” Now his brother on the other hand…

I forced the thoughts of the nameless Cullen/Hale out of my mind. I had done a good job of distancing myself from conversation about him, thoughts about him, and even the Cullen/Hale himself in the last week. I wasn’t going to change that now.

Bella smiled a bit and switched gears. I arrived home to an empty house ten minutes later.

My father wasn’t home, he rarely was, for he was busy opening a jewelry shop. Not that the absence of his presence bothered me much. I love my dad, but his bubbly attitude was sometimes tiresome.

I went upstairs, threw my bag across the floor, and then collapsed on my bed. I felt so comfortable, the thought of skipping my homework and going to sleep crossed my mind. The laziness that I felt was just about to win the battle against my academics, when the strangest thing (that should really be normal by now) happened.

“You really shouldn’t skip your schoolwork,” the voice that had been avoiding me all day said.

My body jumped up high in the air and I felt a scream coming, but he covered my mouth before it could happen.

“Shhh, calm down. It’s me.” He slowly removed his hand and I resisted the urge to slap him.

“That’s supposed to make me feel better!?! What are you doing here!?! How’d you even get in!?!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I came because after I tell you everything, you probably won’t want to be alone with me in the woods. And I came through the window.” A lot of what he said sounded like a joke, but the intense pain and dread in his eyes begged to differ.

Again, I don’t know what made me do it, but I pulled him down on the bed next to me and grabbed his hand. I expected him to entwine our fingers again, but he did something even more annoying: Edward pulled me into his lap and wrapped his arms around me, my back facing his chest. I was more than just a little uncomfortable in his hold and not to mention cold, but I said nothing.

“I know this must be uncomfortable for you, but after…everything…I’ll never get the chance…” I can totally understand why Bella thinks he has a thing for me.

“Your other half seems to think you like me,” I joked, but he held me tighter. I stiffened at the action.

“I don’t…at least not in that way.” I had the feeling that he was lying, but at the same time it felt like the truth. I dismissed the feeling, it confused me.

“So tell me.” Edward’s hold on me grew tighter.

“Promise me…even if what I say scares you and makes you loathe me even more…promise you won’t run,” he begged.

“So you are a zombie?”

“No, but promise me, just as I promise never to hurt you.”

“Edward I-

“Just promise.” The fear I had nearly forgotten was slowly creeping back upon me. I wanted to know what he was, but I wasn’t so sure I was ready to. He really could be some man-eating demon.

“I promise...” I whispered, despite the emotions swarming within me.

Edward released his hold and stood away from me as he began. The pain and dread in his eyes increased the darker his eyes grew.

“I’m…a vampire…”

I wanted to laugh, I wanted to scream, and I most definitely wanted to run, but I couldn’t. The pain and guilt on his face; the way he looked so helpless…I couldn’t do anything but stare.