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When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it’s not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.
It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America.
Technically not true ☝️🤓
When I landed in Port Angeles, it was raining. I didn’t see it as an omen—just unavoidable. I’d already said my goodbyes to the sun.
Sometimes I wondered if I was seeing the same things through my eyes that the rest of the world was seeing through theirs. Maybe there was a glitch in my brain.
The nicest car here was a shiny Volvo, and it stood out.
No one was going to bite me. I finally exhaled and stepped out of the truck.
At least my skin wouldn’t be a standout here.
As I examined them, the youngest, one of the Cullens, looked up and met my gaze, this time with evident curiosity in his expression. As I looked swiftly away, it seemed to me that his glance held some kind of unmet expectation.
“My name is Edward Cullen,” he continued. “I didn’t have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan.”
“On the contrary, I find you very difficult to read.” Despite everything that I’d said and he’d guessed, he sounded like he meant it. “You must be a good reader then,” I replied. “Usually.”
If I was being honest with myself, I knew I was eager to get to school because I would see Edward Cullen. And that was very, very stupid.
“Bella, I was standing with you, and I pulled you out of the way.” He unleashed the full, devastating power of his eyes on me, as if trying to communicate something crucial. “No.” I set my jaw. The gold in his eyes blazed. “Please, Bella.”
That was the first night I dreamed of Edward Cullen.
With chagrin, I realized the probable cause—no one else was as aware of Edward as I always was. No one else watched him the way I did. How pitiful.
“Myself, obviously.” He enunciated every syllable, as if he were talking to someone mentally handicapped.
😂💀
“I said it would be better if we weren’t friends, not that I didn’t want to be.” “Oh, thanks, now that’s all cleared up.”
Book Bella is actually so funny.
“What are you thinking?” he asked curiously. I looked up into his deep gold eyes, became befuddled, and, as usual, blurted out the truth. “I’m trying to figure out what you are.”
“I’m not. I told you, most people are easy to read.” “Except me, of course.” “Yes. Except for you.” His mood shifted suddenly; his eyes turned brooding. “I wonder why that is.”
“People can’t smell blood,” he contradicted. “Well, I can—that’s what makes me sick. It smells like rust… and salt.”
“So how does it fit in with the Cullens? Are they like the cold ones your great-grandfather met?” “No.” He paused dramatically. “They are the same ones.”
“And what are they?” I finally asked. “What are the cold ones?” He smiled darkly. “Blood drinkers,” he replied in a chilling voice. “Your people call them vampires.”
It seemed that most vampire myths centered around beautiful women as demons and children as victims; they also seemed like constructs created to explain away the high mortality rates for young children, and to give men an excuse for infidelity.
Stregoni benefici: An Italian vampire, said to be on the side of goodness, and a mortal enemy of all evil vampires
Whether it be Jacob’s cold ones or my own superhero theory, Edward Cullen was not… human. He was something more.
And I knew in that I had my answer. I didn’t know if there ever was a choice, really. I was already in too deep. Now that I knew—if I knew—I could do nothing about my frightening secret. Because when I thought of him, of his voice, his hypnotic eyes, the magnetic force of his personality, I wanted nothing more than to be with him right now. Even if… but I couldn’t think it. Not here, alone in the darkening forest. Not while the rain made it dim as twilight under the canopy and pattered like footsteps across the matted earthen floor.
When Charlie smiled, it was easier to see why he and my mother had jumped too quickly into an early marriage.
#teamcharlie
“I hear voices in my mind and you’re worried that you’re the freak,” he laughed.
“How old are you?” “Seventeen,” he answered promptly. “And how long have you been seventeen?” His lips twitched as he stared at the road. “A while,” he admitted at last.
“I don’t understand.” “We try,” he explained slowly. “We’re usually very good at what we do. Sometimes we make mistakes. Me, for example, allowing myself to be alone with you.” “This is a mistake?” I heard the sadness in my voice, but I didn’t know if he could as well. “A very dangerous one,” he murmured.
“Well, you asked if the sun hurt me, and it doesn’t. But I can’t go out in the sunlight—at least, not where anyone can see.” “Why?” “I’ll show you sometime,” he promised.
“I’m not always the most dangerous thing out there. Let’s leave it at that.”
About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was part of him—and I didn’t know how potent that part might be—that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.
“Hadn’t you noticed? I’m breaking all the rules now.”
“He drives like a maniac. It was terrifying.” I hoped he heard that.
If I had to, I supposed I could purposefully put myself in danger to keep him close.… I banished that thought before his quick eyes read it on my face.
Oh, hello New Moon plot 👀
“Of all the things about me that could frighten you, you worry about my driving.”
“He looks at you like… like you’re something to eat,” he continued, ignoring me.
“It’s twilight,” Edward murmured, looking at the western horizon, obscured as it was with clouds.
EDWARD IN THE SUNLIGHT WAS SHOCKING. I COULDN’T GET USED to it, though I’d been staring at him all afternoon. His skin, white despite the faint flush from yesterday’s hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface.
“As if you could outrun me,” he laughed bitterly.
“As if you could fight me off,” he said gently.
“So what you’re saying is, I’m your brand of heroin?” I teased, trying to lighten the mood. He smiled swiftly, seeming to appreciate my effort. “Yes, you are exactly my brand of heroin.”
“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…,” he murmured. I looked away, hiding my eyes as I thrilled to the word. “What a stupid lamb,” I sighed. “What a sick, masochistic lion.”
“I was born in Chicago in 1901.” He paused and glanced at me from the corner of his eyes. My face was carefully unsurprised, patient for the rest. He smiled a tiny smile and continued. “Carlisle found me in a hospital in the summer of 1918. I was seventeen, and dying of the Spanish influenza.”
“It seems to be… much easier for you, now, to be close to me.” “Does it seem that way to you?” he murmured, his nose gliding to the corner of my jaw.
“Let me get this straight—I’m the baby seal, right?”
“I may not be a human, but I am a man,” he assured me.
“I love you,” I whispered. “You are my life now,” he answered simply.
They literally just met.
“So did Alice see me coming?” His reaction was strange. “Something like that,” he said uncomfortably, turning away so I couldn’t see his eyes. I stared at him curiously.
“And you’re worried, not because you’re headed to meet a houseful of vampires, but because you think those vampires won’t approve of you, correct?”
BELLLLLAA! WE MADE ITALIANO FOR YOU!
