Twilight: But it's a Thriller and I Never Read Twilight

Chapter 30: The Last Good Saturday

On the morning after the Homecoming game, I called Alice, still confused about why Edward had come to me the prior night demanding to know where I had been. I couldn't begin to understand just why he'd been so worried about me, and I hoped Alice had some answers. She usually did have the answers whether the question was about the future or the past.

            She picked up before the first ring was over, likely expecting me to call her. Her soft voice hummed through the speaker as I leaned up against the kitchen table, running a finger across the bruises on my arms. As soon as I heard her voice, I pulled down the sleeve of my shirt to hide them.

            "Bella, it's good to hear from you. We missed you yesterday," she said.

            "Yeah," I said. "I was with other friends, but I assume you knew that."

            "Edward told me you were going out with Jessica Stanley and Angela Weber. Did you at least have fun?" She sounded sort of smug, like she already knew every detail about my night.

            "It was great," I said, cutting through Alice's attempt at a sweet demeaner. "But I was wondering why Edward was so worried about me last night. He came to my house to make sure I was alright."

            "I'm sure it's just Edward," Alice said. "He cares a lot about you."

            "Did something happen?" I asked. He seemed to think I was in danger. I'd told him where I was going to be, but that hadn't been enough for him. It had to be something else he wasn't telling me. Alice was the only member of the Cullen family I could expect to be entirely honest with me.

            "Nothing you need to worry about," Alice said. "But I'll talk to him. It could be that he just missed you. I mean, he thought he'd never see you again all summer."

            I didn't point out that it was by his own choice that he'd left. I didn't even point out that it had been his idea of a punishment for me asking him to turn me into a vampire. There was a lot that didn't always make sense about the Cullens' logic, but I supposed I just didn't understand. When I was a vampire, I would understand.

            "Do you know where he was last night?" I asked.

            "With us," she said. "Until he went over to yours. I really gotta go. Can we talk later?"

            I tried to hide my disappointment as I clenched my jaw on the other side of the line. "Yeah. I've gotta get to Jacob's anyway."

            "Oh, the wolf," Alice said. "You're still hanging out with him."

            "He's my friend," I said. He was something like my best friend, but I didn't need to tell her that and hurt her feelings. I knew she considered us to be best friends, and I loved her, I really did. But Jacob understood me in a special way. A way that didn't need magic visions for him to know what I would do. He just got me.

            "Right," Alice said. "Just be careful."

            "I'm always careful," I told her. At least I had been careful since Edward got back. My reckless streak died with him. If I did anything stupid now, I knew he'd be there to stop me.

            "Do you ever think he's going to change his mind about us?" Alice asked. "He exists to kill us, you know."

            "I know," I admitted. I was in between a war for the laws of nature at the moment. Jacob was a Guardian, dedicated to protecting nature and all its inhabitants. The Cullens were vampires, a direct contradiction of the natural order. And I loved them both. I couldn't give up my best friend and I couldn't give up Edward. "He won't though. He promised me."