Eden || Edward Cullen

[8] Hunting

Friday came after a night of studying, and neither of the girls was looking forward to the stares and mockery bound to follow their joint fainting-spells in biology. Eden, while knowing she wouldn't like the stares, already had a pessimistic feeling. Edward had to leave that day, and, despite knowing she'd be with him the following day, it still left her feeling lonely.

"Jessica's going to get a kick out of the story," Bella complained, parking in the lot with her old truck and gently hitting her head on the steering wheel in exasperation. "At least you didn't have to come back and see everybody's reaction. You got away with flirting with Cullen all afternoon."

Eden laughed softly. "Guilty."

Sure enough, Jessica approached the two girls shortly after they got out of the truck. "Hi," she greeted, her ponytail swinging. "Will you be sitting with us today, Bells?"

After a short glance at Eden, who nodded, Bella responded. "Um, yeah. Sorry about yesterday, by the way, family bonding opportunity, I guess."

The morning passed quickly, with Eden sitting next to Alice in History, and lunch quickly starting. She continued her routine of not getting food but following Alice to the lineup, her stomach flipping at the thought of eating now. She hadn't had the will to force herself to eat the night before, despite the good day. She felt... off. She didn't want to believe that part of it was due to her not being with Edward, but a big part of her knew it was the case. She missed him. But at the same time, without him to distract her from the school's thoughts, she was left to the mercy of them.

God, who does she think she is? She's not even that pretty...

She probably only fainted for attention. Nobody's that sensitive to blood...

It's so funny how sad she gets without him. Well, less funny. More sad...

Eden was only grounded when she tasted blood. She had been biting her lip, and it stung. She was suddenly aware of Alice's eyes turning to her quickly. Alice's eye flickered down to her mouth, and Eden stared silently for a moment as her dark eyes flickered a shade darker.

"Sorry," Eden mumbled, her eyes dropping to the floor as she fought to unsee the flicker of the vampire's thoughts.

Alice grimaced for a moment, before apologetically smiling shortly. She had the same lopsided smile that Edward had worn so well, and not for the first time that morning, Eden found her stomach sink.

God, you are so whipped, Eden. Jasper's thoughts came with a playful teasing, and she snapped her head up to see the blonde boy grinning at her. Nudging Alice, Eden led them both back to the table where she was greeted with a smiley Jasper, Rosalie nodding shortly and Alice perking up.

Lunch was over before Eden knew it. She itched for the day to finish, and Bella gave her a weird look when she all but ran to the red Chevy at the end of the school day.

"'Don't know why Bella doesn't just sit with the Cullens now.' Like, who does she think she is?"

The aircon cranked up gave Eden a drowsy comfort, and she blinked awake as Bella started a rant on the drive home.

"Who said that?" Eden asked, frowning.

Bella rolled her eyes, using the same childish, high pitched tone that she had used to imitate what was said before. "Lauren. You'd think she'd be pissy with you, considering Tyler has the biggest crush on you and she seems obsessed with him. But no, I'm her new target." Her cousin glanced back at Eden, smiling sheepishly. "Not that I'd have her go after you, E."

Eden fiddled with her sleeve, the frown still in place. "He doesn't have a crush on me."

Bella ignored her. "And I can't believe you got away with ditching this weekend. I basically had to agree just to shut Eric up," she giggled, not without kindness. "Where'd he say you guys were going again?"