"Yes, thank you," she murmured, climbing into my car without hesitation.

Would it ever cease to thrill me, that I was the one she was saying yes to? I doubted it.

I flashed around the car, eager to join her. She showed no sign of being shocked by my sudden reappearance.

The happiness I felt when she sat beside me this way had no precedent. As much as I enjoyed the love and companionship of my family, despite the various entertainments and distractions the world had to offer, I had never been happy like this. Even knowing that it was wrong, that this couldn't possibly end well, could not keep the smile from my face for long.

My jacket was folded over the headrest of her seat. I saw her eyeing it.

"I brought the jacket for you," I told her. This was my excuse, had I needed to provide one, for showing up uninvited this morning. It was cold. She had no jacket.

"Lame excuse," Jacob said.

"He doesn't need an excuse," Bella shrugged.

"Doesn't make that any less lame," Jacob shrugged.

Surely this was an acceptable form of chivalry. "I didn't want you to get sick or something."

"I'm not quite that delicate," she said, staring at my chest rather than my face, as if she were hesitant to meet my eyes.

"Or maybe she's just ogling you," Jacob said and laughed when Bella turned bright red.

But she put the coat on before I had to resort to commanding or coaxing.

"Aren't you?" I muttered to myself.

She stared out at the road as I accelerated toward the school. I could only stand the silence for a few seconds. I had to know what her thoughts were this morning. So much had changed between us since the last time the sun was up.

"What, no twenty questions today?" I asked, keeping it light again.

She smiled, seeming glad that I'd broached the subject. "Do my questions bother you?"

"Not as much as your reactions do," I told her honestly, smiling in response to her smile.

"There's nothing wrong with my reactions," Bella said.

"Except to this crazy vampire that doesn't want anything to make him too happy," Jacob said.

Her mouth turned down. "Do I react badly?"

"No, that's the problem. You take everything so coolly - it's unnatural." Not one scream so far. How could that be? "It makes me wonder what you're really thinking."

Of course, everything she did or didn't do made me wonder that.

"Sorry," Bella shrugged, smiling.

"I always tell you what I'm really thinking."

"You edit."

Her teeth pressed into her lip again. She didn't seem to notice when she did this - it was an unconscious response to tension.

"Apparently," Jacob chuckled, noticing that Bella was doing that at the moment.

"Not very much."

Just those words were enough to have my curiosity raging. What did she purposefully keep from me?

Bella rolled her eyes... purposefully keep from him...

"Enough to drive me insane," I said.

She hesitated, and then whispered, "You don't want to hear it."

I had to think for a moment, run through our entire conversation last night, word for word, before I made the connection. Perhaps it took so much concentration because I couldn't imagine anything that I wouldn't want her to say to me. And then - because the tone of her voice was the same as last night; there was suddenly pain there again - I remembered. Once, I had asked her not to speak her thoughts. Never say that, I'd all but snarled at her. I had made her cry...

Was this what she kept from me? The depth of her feelings about me? That my being a monster didn't matter to her, and that she thought it was too late for her to change her mind?

Well, that was entirely possible, Bella thought to herself.

I was unable to speak, because the joy and pain were too strong for words, the conflict between them too wild to allow for a coherent response. It was silent in the car except for the steady rhythms of her heart and lungs.

"Where's the rest of your family?" she asked suddenly.

"Always worrying about everyone else," Jacob said.

I took a deep breath - registering the scent in the car with true pain for the first time; I was getting used to this, I realized with satisfaction - and forced myself to be casual again.

"Well, that's really good to know," Jacob said.

"They took Rosalie's car." I parked in the open spot next to the car in question. I hid my smile as I watched her eyes widen. "Ostentatious, isn't it?"

"Um, wow. If she has that, why does she ride with you?"

Rosalie would have enjoyed Bella's reaction...if she were being objective about Bella, which probably wouldn't happen.

"Like I said, it's ostentatious. We try to blend in."

"You don't succeed," she told me, and then she laughed a carefree laugh.

The blithe, wholly untroubled sound of her laughter warmed my hollow chest even as it made my head swim with doubt.

"Oh come on, man... just join in with the laugh and be happy," Jacob said.

"So why did Rosalie drive today if it's more conspicuous?" she wondered.

"Hadn't you noticed? I'm breaking all the rules now."

My answer should have been mildly frightening - so, of course, Bella smiled at it.

"Of course," Jacob chuckled as Bella made a face.

She didn't wait for me to open her door, just like last night. I had to feign normality here at school - so I couldn't move fast enough to prevent this - but she was just going to have to get used to being treated with more courtesy, and get used to it soon.

"I already said I would," Bella said.

I walked as close to her as I dared, watching carefully for any sign that my proximity upset her. Twice her hand twitched toward me and then she would snatch it back. It looked like she wanted to touch me... My breath sped.

Jacob snickered at this. It was just funny to think of someone that was a hundred years old not even knowing how to handle almost holding hands.

"Why do you have cars like that at all? If you're looking for privacy?" she asked as we walked.

"An indulgence," I admitted. "We all like to drive fast."

"Figures," she mumbled, her tone sour.

She didn't look up to see my answering grin.

Nuh-uh! I don't believe this! How the hell did Bella pull this off? I don't get it! Why?

"Hmm... it seems like you might have been noticed," Jacob chuckled.

"You think?" Bella groaned; she was sure she was going to be grilled by Jessica.

Jessica's mental boggling interrupted my thoughts. She was waiting for Bella, taking refuge from the rain under the edge of the cafeteria's roof, with Bella's winter jacket over her arm. Her eyes were wide with disbelief.

Bella noticed her, too, in the next moment. A faint pink touched her cheek when Bella registered Jessica's expression. The thoughts in Jessica's head were fairly clear on her face.

"Ah, now Jessica is trying to imitate your expression," Jacob chuckled.

"Hey, Jessica. Thanks for remembering," Bella greeted her. She reached out for the jacket and Jessica handed it to her wordlessly.

I should be polite to Bella's friends, whether they were good friends or not.

"Good morning, Jessica."

Whoa...

"Hm..." Bella said, thinking that it might be better if Edward wasn't so nice to her friends.

Jessica's eyes popped even wider. It was strange and amusing...and, honestly, a bit embarrassing...to realize how much being near Bella had softened me.

"Tough luck, man," Jacob chuckled and Bella grimaced at that... of course she liked that he was able to be close to her, but the side effect of having girls like him more... that really sucked.

It seemed like no one was afraid of me anymore. If Emmett found out about this, he would be laughing for the next century.

"Hm... I'll be sure to tell him then," Jacob smiled.

"Er...hi," Jessica mumbled, and her eyes flashed to Bella's face, full of significance. "I guess I'll see you in Trig."

You are so going to spill. I'm not taking no for an answer. Details. I have to have details! Edward freaking CULLEN! Life is so unfair.

Bella's mouth twitched. "Yeah, I'll see you then."

Jessica's thoughts ran wild as she hurried to her first class, peeking back at us now and then.

The whole story. I'm not accepting anything less. Did they plan to meet up last night? Are they dating? How long? How could she keep this a secret? Why would she want to? It can't be a casual thing - she has to be seriously into him. Is there any other option? I will find out. I can't stand not knowing. I wonder if she's made out with him? Oh, swoon... Jessica's thoughts were suddenly disjointed, and she let wordless fantasies swirl through her head.

"Did she actually think 'Oh, swoon',?" Jacob asked laughing.

"Whatever," Bella shrugged; she was so not looking forward to this conversation with Jessica.

I winced at her speculations, and not just because she'd replaced Bella with herself in the mental pictures.

It couldn't be like that. And yet I...I wanted...

I resisted making the admission, even to myself. How many wrong ways would I want Bella in? Which one would end up killing her?

"How about you stop thinking about that one and give us all a break?" Jacob hissed.

I shook my head, and tried to lighten up.

"What are you going to tell her?" I asked Bella.

"Hey!" she whispered fiercely. "I thought you couldn't read my mind!"

"I can't." I stared at her, surprised, trying to make sense of her words. Ah - we must have been thinking the same thing at the same time. Hmm...I rather liked that.

"The simplest things pleases him," Jacob chuckled.

"Um... I'm pretty sure this book proves that's not true," Bella said. "He's never pleased about anything... or he never lets himself be pleased."

"However," I told her, "I can read hers - she'll be waiting to ambush you in class."

Bella groaned, and then let the jacket slide off her shoulders. I didn't realize that she was giving it back at first - I wouldn't have asked for it; I would rather she kept it...a token - so I was too slow to offer her my help. She handed me the jacket, and put her arms through her own, without looking up to see that my hands were extended to assist. I frowned at that, and then controlled my expression before she noticed it.

"He really is a gentleman," Bella muttered, she was really going to have to remember that and that it wasn't only car doors that he wanted to help her with.

"So, what are you going to tell her?" I pressed.

"A little help? What does she want to know?"

I smiled, and shook my head. I wanted to hear what she was thinking without a prompt. "That's not fair."

Her eyes tightened. "No, you not sharing what you know - now that's unfair."

Right - she didn't like double standards.

"No... so tell me what you know," Bella said.

We got to the door of her class - where I would have to leave her; I wondered idly if Ms. Cope would be more accommodating about a switch in the schedule of my English class... I made myself focus. I could be fair.

"She wants to know if we're secretly dating," I said slowly. "And she wants to know how you feel about me."

Her eyes were wide - not startled, but ingenious now. They were open to me, readable. She was playing innocent.

Jacob again laughed at this image.

"Yikes," she murmured. "What should I say?"

"Hmmm." She always tried to make me give away more than she did. I pondered how to respond.

Bella rolled her eyes... that so wasn't true.

A wayward strand of her hair, slightly damp from the fog, draped across her shoulder and curled around where her collar bone was hidden by the ridiculous sweater.

It drew my eyes...pulled them across the other hidden lines...

I reached for it carefully, not touching her skin - the morning was chill enough without my touch - and twisted it back into place in her untidy bun so that it wouldn't distract me again. I remembered when Mike Newton had touched her hair, and my jaw flexed at the memory. She had flinched away from him then. Her reaction now was nothing the same; instead, there was a slight widening of her eyes, a rush of blood under her skin, and a sudden, uneven thumping of her heart.

Bella was again annoyed at having to read this out loud, and for the blush that came to her face... and that she had to wait another few days before meeting Edward... and worried about how that meeting would go...

"Um... are you going to read again any time soon?" Jacob asked.