Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of its characters. They all belong to Stephenie Meyer.

Thanks to Juliegirl18 for beta'ing. Thanks to Bella's Executioner and sariedee for pre-reading for me. And thanks to MandyLeigh87 for continuing to help me out in any way she can.

EPOV

I slammed the door of my car and rushed into the school. I was running late because I was an ass this morning. Alice came in to wake me up and I yelled at her. I told her to leave me the fuck alone and to catch a ride with Jasper. She should be used to it by now though. It's a usual occurrence around here.

Honestly, this time it wasn't really my fault. All weekend, she and Emmett had been trying to get me to tell them what the hell had made me blow up at Bella Friday night. Carlisle told me that it was my decision whether to tell them about our talk that night, and I chose not to. They didn't like that decision, so they pestered me all fucking weekend about it. I was so annoyed by the sound of Alice's voice that I blew up at her this morning. She'd lived with me long enough that she should have known better. Some would say that I should have known better too, but it wasn't something I could help.

After checking in at the office with Ms. Cope, I made my way to my third period class that was almost ending. It seemed that I slept through most of the day. All that was left was lunch and Advanced Biology. When I walked into the classroom, everyone stared at me as I made my way to my seat, but that was something that I had grown used to.

I hoped that Bella would be absent again for some reason today. Hopefully she zoned out in the library again and wouldn't make it to class. I wasn't sure I was ready to see her again. Everyone kept telling me how nice she was, how much I would like her. It didn't matter. It never mattered. I didn't care how nice she was, I didn't want to be friends with her. I couldn't be friends with her because in the end, both of us would be hurt.

After a very uneventful lunch, filled with long silences and cold shoulders, I made my way to the Biology classroom. Since Bella hadn't been at the lunch table with Rose, Jasper and Alice, I was hoping she would be absent from here as well. But of course, my incredible luck struck again.

As I walked into the classroom, I noticed Bella already sitting at our lab table. I don't know what I was expecting, but she was sitting quietly and looking completely normal. I guess I figured she'd be smiling and ready to strike up a conversation. Thankfully, I had taken my time getting to the classroom and Mr. Banner was ready to start class as soon as I was seated.

"Okay class, today I'm going to hand out your midterm project assignments. Your partner for these projects will be the same as your lab partner," Mr. Banner announced. With Bella as my project partner there was no way I was going to be able to ignore her.

"Edward," I heard Bella whisper lowly as Mr. Banner passed around the project sign-up sheet. I turned my body slightly in the other direction and tried to ignore her. I was pretty sure she could tell what I was doing. The more and more she tried to get my attention, the more and more pissed off she sounded.

When the assignment sheet finally made it to our table, I didn't bother turning around to face her. After a few minutes, I finally heard her huff loudly and her sharp elbow hit me right in the gut.

"What the fuck?" I whispered loudly as I spun around to face her. She tried to hide the shock on her face and replace it with a scowl, but it didn't work.

"I picked the one about the plants. Hope you don't care because you didn't bother to give your input. I figure I can come by your house some time in the next few weeks to work on it. Is that okay?" she asked. I rolled my eyes at her rambling and knew I couldn't just ignore her obvious question.

"Fine. Whatever," I said just before the bell rang. I quickly gathered my things and rushed out of the classroom. As I pushed through the double doors at the front of the school and walked into the parking lot, I could feel her running up behind me to catch up.

"Edward! Edward, would you slow down? Please?" she yelled across the lot. For some reason when she said please I knew I had to stop. I could almost picture her face in my mind as she said the word, her dark brown eyes drooping slightly in sadness. It was like I could feel the tightness in my chest at the thought of not pleasing her.

"What do you want, Bella?" I asked her without turning around. She finally caught up with me and walked around to stand in front of me. I finally looked up at her and almost busted out laughing. She was breathing heavily and had her hands on her hips. She tried her best to look like a dangerous tiger, but came off looking like a frightened kitten.

"Why won't you talk to me?" she asked when she finally caught her breath. I sighed and continued walking to my car.

"I told you, Bella. You don't want me to be your friend," I said.

"I can see what you're trying to do here. You're trying to be the bad boy, but that's not who you really are," she said as she walked along side me. The more I realized just how much she understood me, the angrier I could feel myself getting. Here came this girl, who'd I only really known for a couple of days, and she could read me right off the bat. It was a little unnerving.

"Bella, please. You don't need someone like me in your life, trust me," I said honestly. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest.

"You don't scare me," she said. I began to take deep breaths, in and out, to try and calm myself. I could feel my blood pressure rising and yet she continued to badger me.

"You're wearing this mask and trying to scare everyone away, but it's not working. I just wanna be your friend, Edward," she said, but I'd finally had enough. I was so fucking tired of people trying to fix me. Why couldn't everyone just leave me the fuck alone and let me be? I spun around quickly to face her. I grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her a little. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped loudly.

"Just leave me the fuck alone, Bella!" I screamed at her before releasing her with a shove. She stumbled a bit, but thankfully didn't fall. Even with the distance between us, I could see the tears forming in her eyes. Knowing it wouldn't do me any good to see her cry, I turned quickly and walked to my car. I had a feeling if I saw Bella cry, she'd be even more under my skin than she was right now.

I sat in the driver's seat of my car, staring at the girl I was sure hated me now. I don't know what had come over me, but I was sure I'd scared the shit out of her. Bella wasn't backing down though. She stood in the same spot I pushed her into, her eyes never leaving mine. I could see the tears streaming down her face and her body shaking with emotion.

I had finally decided I'd had enough and decided to walk over and apologize to her. I knew what I did was wrong and I wanted to make sure she was alright. I couldn't recall how many times over the years that I'd said something harsh to Alice only to have to apologize for it later. Just as I pushed my door open, Bella ran off in the other direction.

Maybe I had finally succeeded in what I'd wanted to do all along. Maybe I had scared her off for good. That was a good thing, right?