ike asked about me? Joy made Jessica's mind suddenly unguarded, softer, without its usual snide edge. "You're kidding! What did you say?"

"I told him you said you had a lot of fun - and he looked pleased."

"Tell me exactly what he said, and your exact answer!"

That was all I was going to get from Jessica today, clearly. Bella was smiling like she was thinking the same thing. Like she'd won the round.

"Well, obviously she did," Jacob chuckled.

Well, lunch would be another story. I would have better success with getting answers out of her than Jessica, I would make sure of that.

I could hardly bear to check in occasionally with Jessica through the fourth hour.

I had no patience for her obsessive thoughts of Mike Newton. I'd had more than enough of him in the last two weeks. He was lucky to be alive.

I moved apathetically through gym class with Alice, the way we always moved when it came to physical activity with humans. She was my teammate, naturally. It was the first day of badminton.

"Badminton!" Bella repeated in a whisper... she didn't like the sounds of having a racket in her hand.

Of course, all this exclamation did was cause Jacob to chuckle at her reaction.

I sighed with boredom, swinging the racket in slow motion to tap the birdie back to the other side. Lauren Mallory was on the other team; she missed.

Alice was twirling her racket like a baton, staring at the ceiling.

We all hated gym, Emmett especially. Throwing games was an affront to his personal philosophy. Gym seemed worse today than usual - I felt just as irritated as Emmett always did.

Before my head could explode with impatience, Coach Clapp called the games and sent us out early. I was ridiculously grateful that he'd skipped breakfast - a fresh attempt to diet - and the consequent hunger had him in a hurry to leave campus to find a greasy lunch somewhere. He promised himself he would start over tomorrow...

"Yeah, right... I believe him," Jacob rolled his eyes.

This gave me enough time to get to the math building before Bella's class ended.

Enjoy yourself, Alice thought as she headed off to meet Jasper. Just a few days more to be patient. I suppose you won't say hi to Bella for me, will you?

I shook my head, exasperated. Were all psychics so smug?

FYI, it's going to be sunny on both sides of the sound this weekend. You might want to rearrange your plans.

"He's not going to cancel, is he?" Bella frowned, that would be devastating to her.

I sighed as I continued in the opposite direction. Smug, but definitely useful.

I leaned against the wall by the door, waiting. I was close enough that I could hear Jessica's voice through the bricks as well as her thoughts.

"You're not sitting with us today, are you?" She looks all...lit up. I bet there's tons she didn't tell me.

"Oh, you have no idea," Jacob chuckled.

"I don't think so," Bella answered, oddly unsure.

Hadn't I promised to spend lunch with her? What was she thinking?

"Sorry, you don't get to know that," Jacob laughed.

They came out of the class together, and both girls' eyes widened when they saw me. But I could only hear Jessica.

Nice. Wow. Oh, yeah, there's more going on here than she's telling me. Maybe I'll call her tonight... Or maybe I shouldn't encourage her. Huh. I hope he moves past her in a hurry. Mike is cute but...wow.

Again, Bella's voice turned a little angry and Jacob had to laugh at that.

"See you later, Bella."

Bella walked toward me, pausing a step away, still unsure. Her skin was pink across her cheekbones.

I knew her well enough now to be sure that there was no fear behind her hesitation. Apparently, this was about some gulf she imagined between her feelings and mine. More than he likes me. Absurd!

"You know, if he annoys you so much, you don't have to like him," Jacob said.

"It's too late for that, Jake," Bella said. "And his thoughts can be annoying, but that doesn't make me like him any less."

"Hello," I said, my voice a tad curt.

Her face got brighter. "Hi."

She didn't seem inclined to say anything else, so I led the way to the cafeteria and she walked silently beside me.

The jacket had worked - her scent was not the blow it usually was. It was just an intensification of the pain I already felt. I could ignore it more easily than I once would have believed possible.

Bella was restless as we waited in line, toying absently with the zipper on her jacket and shifting nervously from foot to foot. She glanced at me often, but whenever she met my gaze, she looked down as if she were embarrassed. Was this because so many people were staring at us? Maybe she could hear the loud whispers - the gossip was verbal as well as mental today.

"Argh," Bella groaned, she wasn't sure if she noticed the other people or not, but she didn't like hearing it now. Then her mind drifted as she thought about the attention she now knew she was going to get in soon on her first day of school.

Or maybe she realized, from my expression, that she was in trouble. She didn't say anything until I was assembling her lunch. I didn't know what she liked - not yet - so I grabbed one of everything.

"What are you doing?" she hissed in a low voice. "You're not getting all that for me?"

"Why are you complaining... it's free food," Jacob said, incredulously.

Bella shrugged, she was sure he wouldn't understand her reason.

I shook my head, and shoved the tray up to the register. "Half is for me, of course."

She raised one eyebrow skeptically, but said nothing more as I paid for the food and escorted her to the table we'd sat at last week before her disastrous experience with blood typing. It seemed like much more than a few days. Everything was different now.

She sat across from me again. I pushed the tray toward her.

"Take whatever you want," I encouraged.

She picked up an apple and twisted it in her hands, a speculative look on her face.

"I'm curious."

What a surprise.

"Yes... it is rather shocking," Jacob chuckled and Bella rolled her eyes.

"What would you do if someone dared you to eat food?" she continued in a low voice that wouldn't carry to human ears. Immortal ears were another matter, if those ears were paying attention. I probably should have mentioned something to them earlier...