Charlie put one arm behind my back, not quite touching me, and led me to the glass

doors of the exit. I waved sheepishly at my friends, hoping to convey that they didn't

need to worry anymore. It was a huge relief— the first time I'd ever felt that way — to

get into the cruiser.

We drove in silence. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I barely knew Charlie

was there. I was positive that Edward's defensive behavior in the hall was a confirmation

of the bizarre things I still could hardly believe I'd witnessed.

When we got to the house, Charlie finally spoke.

"Um … you'll need to call Renée." He hung his head, guilty.

I was appalled. "You told Mom!"

"Sorry."

I slammed the cruiser's door a little harder than necessary on my way out.

My mom was in hysterics, of course. I had to tell her I felt fine at least thirty times

before she would calm down. She begged me to come home — forgetting the fact that

home was empty at the moment — but her pleas were easier to resist than I would have

thought. I was consumed by the mystery Edward presented. And more than a little

obsessed by Edward himself. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I wasn't as eager to escape Forks as I

should be, as any normal, sane person would be.

I decided I might as well go to bed early that night. Charlie continued to watch me

anxiously, and it was getting on my nerves. I stopped on my way to grab three Tylenol

from the bathroom. They did help, and, as the pain eased, I drifted to sleep.

That was the first night I dreamed of Edward Cullen.

4. Invitations

In my dream it was very dark, and what dim light there was seemed to be radiating

from Edward's skin. I couldn't see his face, just his back as he walked away from me,

leaving me in the blackness. No matter how fast I ran, I couldn't catch up to him; no

matter how loud I called, he never turned. Troubled, I woke in the middle of the night and

couldn't sleep again for what seemed like a very long time. After that, he was in my

dreams nearly every night, but always on the periphery, never within reach.

The month that followed the accident was uneasy, tense, and, at first, embarrassing.

To my dismay, I found myself the center of attention for the rest of that week. Tyler

Crowley was impossible, following me around, obsessed with making amends to me

somehow. I tried to convince him what I wanted more than anything else was for him to

forget all about it — especially since nothing had actually happened to me — but he

remained insistent. He followed me between classes and sat at our now-crowded lunch

table. Mike and Eric were even less friendly toward him than they were to each other,

which made me worry that I'd gained another unwelcome fan.

No one seemed concerned about Edward, though I explained over and over that he was

the hero — how he had pulled me out of the way and had nearly been crushed, too. I tried

to be convincing. Jessica, Mike, Eric, and everyone else always commented that they

hadn't even seen him there till the van was pulled away.

I wondered to myself why no one else had seen him standing so far away, before he

was suddenly, impossibly saving my life. 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.

Edward was never surrounded by crowds of curious bystanders eager for his firsthand

account. People avoided him as usual. The Cullens and the Hales sat at the same table as

always, not eating, talking only among themselves. None of them, especially Edward,

glanced my way anymore.

When he sat next to me in class, as far from me as the table would allow, he seemed

totally unaware of my presence. Only now and then, when his fists would suddenly ball

up — skin stretched even whiter over the bones — did I wonder if he wasn't quite as

oblivious as he appeared.

He wished he hadn't pulled me from the path of Tyler 's van — there was no other

conclusion I could come to.

I wanted very much to talk to him, and the day after the accident I tried. The last time

I'd seen him, outside the ER, we'd both been so furious. I still was angry that he wouldn't

trust me with the truth, even though I was keeping my part of the bargain flawlessly. But

he had in fact saved my life, no matter how he'd done it. And, overnight, the heat of my

anger faded into awed gratitude.

He was already seated when I got to Biology, looking straight ahead. I sat down,

expecting him to turn toward me. He showed no sign that he realized I was there.

"Hello, Edward," I said pleasantly, to show him I was going to behave myself.

He turned his head a fraction toward me without meeting my gaze, nodded once, and

then looked the other way.

And that was the last contact I'd had with him, though he was there, a foot away from

me, every day. I watched him sometimes, unable to stop myself— from a distance,though, in the cafeteria or parking lot. I watched as his golden eyes grew perceptibly

darker day by day. But in class I gave no more notice that he existed than he showed

toward me. I was miserable. And the dreams continued.

Despite my outright lies, the tenor of my e-mails alerted Renée to my depression, and

she called a few times, worried. I tried to convince her it was just the weather that had me

down.