*by Stephenie Meyer*
NEW MOON - chapter 1 - PARTY
The sight of Alice there - her tawny eyes brilliant with excitement, and a smel silver-wrapped quare in her hands - made me frown. I'd told Alice I didn't want anything, anything, not gifts 或者 even attention, for my birthday. Obviously, my wishes were being ignored.
I slammed the door of my '53 Chevy truck - a 淋浴 of rust specks fluttered down to the wet blacktop - and walked slowly toward where they waited. Alice skipped 前锋, 期待 to me, her pixie face glowing under her spiky black hair.
"Happy birthday, Bella!"
"Shh!" I hissed, glancing around the lot to make sure no one had heard her. The last thing I wanted was some kind of celebration of the black event.
She ignored me. "Do 你 want to open your present now 或者 later?" she asked eagerly as we made our way to where Edward still waited.
"No presents," I protested in a mumble.
She finally seemed to process my mood. "Okay... later, then. Did 你 liek the scrapbook your mom sent you? And the camera from Charlie?"
I sighed. Of course she would know what my birthday presents were. Edward wasn't the only member of his family with unusual skills. Alice would have "seen" what my parents were planning as soon as they'd decided that themselves.
"Yeah. They're great."
"I think it's a nice idea. You're only a senior once. Might as well document the experience."
"How many times have you been a senior?"
"That's different."
We reached Edward then, and he held out his hand for mine. I took it eagerly, forgetting, for a moment, my glum mood. His skin was, as always, smooth, hard, and very cold. He gave my fingers a gentle squeeze. i looked into his liquid topaz eyes, and my 心 gave a not-quite-so-gentle squeeze of its own. Hearing the stutter in my heartbeats, he smiled again.
He lifted his free hand and traced one cool fingertip around the outside of my lips as he spoke. "So, as discussed, I am not allowed to wish 你 a happy birthday, is that correct?"
"Yes. That is correct." I could never quite mimic the flow of his perfect, formal articulation. It was something that could only be picked up in an earlier century.
"Just checking." He ran his hand through his tousled bronze hair. "You might have changed your mind. Most people seem to enjoy things like birthdays and gifts."
Alice laughed, and the sound was all silver, a wind chime. "Of course you'll enjoy it. Everyone is supposed to be nice to 你 today and give 你 your way, Bella. What's the worst that could happen?" She meant it as a rhetorical question.
"Getting older," I answered anyway, and my voice was not as steady as I wanted it to be.
Beside me, Edward's smile tightened into a hard line.
"Eighteen isn't very old," Alice said. "Don't women usually wait till they're twenty-nine to get upset over birthdays?"
"It's older than Edward," I mumbled.
He sighed.
"Technically," she said, keeping her tone light. "Just 由 one little year, though."
And I supposed... if I could be sure of the future I wanted, sure that I would get to spend forever with Edward and Alice and the rest of the Cullens (preferably not as a wrinkled little old lady)... then a 年 或者 two one direction 或者 the other wouldn't matter to me so much. But edward was dead set against any future that changed me. Any future that made me like him - that made me immortal, too.
An impasse, he called it.
I couldn't really see Edward's point, to be honest. What was so great about mortality? Being a vampire didn't look like such a terrible thing - not the way the Cullens did it, anyway.
"What time will 你 be at the house?" Alice continued, changing the subject. From her expression, she was up to exactly the kind of thing I'd been hoping to avoid.
"I didn't know I had plans to be there."
"Oh, be fair, Bella!" she complained. "You aren't going to ruin all out fun like that, are you?"
"I thought my birthday was about what I want."
"I'll get her from Charlie's right after school," Edward told her, ignoring me altogether.
"I have to work," I protested.
"You don't, actually," Alice told me smugly. "I already spoke to Mrs. Newton about it. She's trading your shifts. She 说 to tell 你 'Happy Birthday.'"
"I - I still can't come over," I stammered, scrambling for an excuse. "I, well, I haven't watched Romeo and Juliet yet for English."
Alice snorted. "You have Romeo and Juliet memorized."
"But Mr. Betty 说 we needed to see it performed to fully appreciate it - that's how Shakespeare intended it to be presented."
Edward rolled his eyes.
"You've already seen the movie," Alice accused.
"But not the nineteen-sixties version. Mr. Betty 说 it was the best."
Finally Alice 迷失 the smug smile and glared at me.
"This can be easy, 或者 this can be hard, Bella, but one way 或者 the other - "
Edward interrupted her threat. "Relax, Alice. If Bella wants to watch a movie, then she can. It's her birthday."
"So there," I added.
"I'll bring her over around seven," he continued. "That will give 你 更多 time to set up."
Alice's laughter chimed again. "Sounds good. See 你 tonight, Bella! It'll be fun, you'll see." She grinned - the wide smiled exposed all her perfect, glistening teeth - then pecked me on the cheek and danced off toward her first class before I could respond.
"Edward, please - " I started to beg, but he pressed one cool finger to my lips.
"Let's discuss it later. We're going to be late for class."
No one bothered to stare at us as we took our usual seats in the back of the classroom (we had almost every class together now - it was amazing the favors Edward could get the female administrators to do for him). Edward and I had been together too long now to be an object of gossip anymore. Even Mike Newton didn't bother to give me the glum stare that used to make me feel a little guilty. He smiled now instead, and I was glad he seemed to have accepted that we could only be friends. Mike had changed over the summer - his face had 迷失 some of the roundness, making his cheekbones 更多 prominent, and he was wearing his pale blond hair a new way; instead of bristly, it was longer and gelled into a carefully casual disarray. It was easy to see where his inspiration came from - but Edward's look wasn't something that could be achieved through imitation.
NEW MOON - chapter 1 - PARTY
The sight of Alice there - her tawny eyes brilliant with excitement, and a smel silver-wrapped quare in her hands - made me frown. I'd told Alice I didn't want anything, anything, not gifts 或者 even attention, for my birthday. Obviously, my wishes were being ignored.
I slammed the door of my '53 Chevy truck - a 淋浴 of rust specks fluttered down to the wet blacktop - and walked slowly toward where they waited. Alice skipped 前锋, 期待 to me, her pixie face glowing under her spiky black hair.
"Happy birthday, Bella!"
"Shh!" I hissed, glancing around the lot to make sure no one had heard her. The last thing I wanted was some kind of celebration of the black event.
She ignored me. "Do 你 want to open your present now 或者 later?" she asked eagerly as we made our way to where Edward still waited.
"No presents," I protested in a mumble.
She finally seemed to process my mood. "Okay... later, then. Did 你 liek the scrapbook your mom sent you? And the camera from Charlie?"
I sighed. Of course she would know what my birthday presents were. Edward wasn't the only member of his family with unusual skills. Alice would have "seen" what my parents were planning as soon as they'd decided that themselves.
"Yeah. They're great."
"I think it's a nice idea. You're only a senior once. Might as well document the experience."
"How many times have you been a senior?"
"That's different."
We reached Edward then, and he held out his hand for mine. I took it eagerly, forgetting, for a moment, my glum mood. His skin was, as always, smooth, hard, and very cold. He gave my fingers a gentle squeeze. i looked into his liquid topaz eyes, and my 心 gave a not-quite-so-gentle squeeze of its own. Hearing the stutter in my heartbeats, he smiled again.
He lifted his free hand and traced one cool fingertip around the outside of my lips as he spoke. "So, as discussed, I am not allowed to wish 你 a happy birthday, is that correct?"
"Yes. That is correct." I could never quite mimic the flow of his perfect, formal articulation. It was something that could only be picked up in an earlier century.
"Just checking." He ran his hand through his tousled bronze hair. "You might have changed your mind. Most people seem to enjoy things like birthdays and gifts."
Alice laughed, and the sound was all silver, a wind chime. "Of course you'll enjoy it. Everyone is supposed to be nice to 你 today and give 你 your way, Bella. What's the worst that could happen?" She meant it as a rhetorical question.
"Getting older," I answered anyway, and my voice was not as steady as I wanted it to be.
Beside me, Edward's smile tightened into a hard line.
"Eighteen isn't very old," Alice said. "Don't women usually wait till they're twenty-nine to get upset over birthdays?"
"It's older than Edward," I mumbled.
He sighed.
"Technically," she said, keeping her tone light. "Just 由 one little year, though."
And I supposed... if I could be sure of the future I wanted, sure that I would get to spend forever with Edward and Alice and the rest of the Cullens (preferably not as a wrinkled little old lady)... then a 年 或者 two one direction 或者 the other wouldn't matter to me so much. But edward was dead set against any future that changed me. Any future that made me like him - that made me immortal, too.
An impasse, he called it.
I couldn't really see Edward's point, to be honest. What was so great about mortality? Being a vampire didn't look like such a terrible thing - not the way the Cullens did it, anyway.
"What time will 你 be at the house?" Alice continued, changing the subject. From her expression, she was up to exactly the kind of thing I'd been hoping to avoid.
"I didn't know I had plans to be there."
"Oh, be fair, Bella!" she complained. "You aren't going to ruin all out fun like that, are you?"
"I thought my birthday was about what I want."
"I'll get her from Charlie's right after school," Edward told her, ignoring me altogether.
"I have to work," I protested.
"You don't, actually," Alice told me smugly. "I already spoke to Mrs. Newton about it. She's trading your shifts. She 说 to tell 你 'Happy Birthday.'"
"I - I still can't come over," I stammered, scrambling for an excuse. "I, well, I haven't watched Romeo and Juliet yet for English."
Alice snorted. "You have Romeo and Juliet memorized."
"But Mr. Betty 说 we needed to see it performed to fully appreciate it - that's how Shakespeare intended it to be presented."
Edward rolled his eyes.
"You've already seen the movie," Alice accused.
"But not the nineteen-sixties version. Mr. Betty 说 it was the best."
Finally Alice 迷失 the smug smile and glared at me.
"This can be easy, 或者 this can be hard, Bella, but one way 或者 the other - "
Edward interrupted her threat. "Relax, Alice. If Bella wants to watch a movie, then she can. It's her birthday."
"So there," I added.
"I'll bring her over around seven," he continued. "That will give 你 更多 time to set up."
Alice's laughter chimed again. "Sounds good. See 你 tonight, Bella! It'll be fun, you'll see." She grinned - the wide smiled exposed all her perfect, glistening teeth - then pecked me on the cheek and danced off toward her first class before I could respond.
"Edward, please - " I started to beg, but he pressed one cool finger to my lips.
"Let's discuss it later. We're going to be late for class."
No one bothered to stare at us as we took our usual seats in the back of the classroom (we had almost every class together now - it was amazing the favors Edward could get the female administrators to do for him). Edward and I had been together too long now to be an object of gossip anymore. Even Mike Newton didn't bother to give me the glum stare that used to make me feel a little guilty. He smiled now instead, and I was glad he seemed to have accepted that we could only be friends. Mike had changed over the summer - his face had 迷失 some of the roundness, making his cheekbones 更多 prominent, and he was wearing his pale blond hair a new way; instead of bristly, it was longer and gelled into a carefully casual disarray. It was easy to see where his inspiration came from - but Edward's look wasn't something that could be achieved through imitation.
-Alice-
Edward and I were playing chess, hilariously fun, when I saw an image that did not involve chess pieces. I stiffened; then relaxed. So they liked Isle Renesmee. Good. It WAS my idea, after all.
And suddenly, I saw something that did not make me smile. I sighed and flicked my king over. It wasn't worth it.
* * *
Edward was the only one who would play chess with me anymore, mainly because it was fair.
I was a little depressed that there wasn't any wedding to be planned, and I didn't have any new project planned. Then, it hit me. RENESMEE'S CLOSET! Well, I'd already stocked her new house's (Esme had 给 them their own house, she'd designed it and everything) mega-sized walk in closet and helped furnish the house, but I could always remodel her closet to look like a boutique!
I smiled in anticipation. I had to go call Esme!
Edward and I were playing chess, hilariously fun, when I saw an image that did not involve chess pieces. I stiffened; then relaxed. So they liked Isle Renesmee. Good. It WAS my idea, after all.
And suddenly, I saw something that did not make me smile. I sighed and flicked my king over. It wasn't worth it.
* * *
Edward was the only one who would play chess with me anymore, mainly because it was fair.
I was a little depressed that there wasn't any wedding to be planned, and I didn't have any new project planned. Then, it hit me. RENESMEE'S CLOSET! Well, I'd already stocked her new house's (Esme had 给 them their own house, she'd designed it and everything) mega-sized walk in closet and helped furnish the house, but I could always remodel her closet to look like a boutique!
I smiled in anticipation. I had to go call Esme!
this is her most of the time on the floor crying
