Yay, an update a month later. :DD But in all seriousness, that's pretty good for me. And that is really sad.

I think iambeagle is my unofficial beta. I'm not sure yet... but she's pretty dang cool.

You wanna playlist? Link on my profile! Please ignore my strange background ._.

"Write a hook write a verse write a chorus write a melody

Can't express how I feel without singing it the right way

I'm doing better now, I'm doing good

I'm doing all the things I know I should"

~Read My Mind~

~by Alex Goot~

~l~

When the lunch bell rang, they both jumped, not expecting it in the companionable silence they shared. He had taken out his own book – The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – and stayed sitting across from her, their jean clad knees almost touching. He kept glancing up at her, but she never noticed, for when she would peek up at him, his eyes would be trained on his book. So when the signal to move classes sounded, they were ultimately surprised and laughed lightly with each other.

She got up and gathered her things while he did the same, then he turned to her. He smiled gently and said, "I'll see you in chemistry," before heading to history and her to theater.

Bella loathed theater. Forks wasn't renowned for its arts department, and most of the earnings went to the music classes. The fact that theater was a possible course to take was a miracle in its own. The class was really easy, and Bella needed her art credit, so she took it. The teacher was Mrs. Cope, from the front office. She used to star in off-off-Broadway productions for a Seattle theater troupe in her younger days, and loved taking a period off from office work to branch young minds into the astonishing world of the theatre.

Bella adored Mrs. Cope, and she was a plus in the decision to sign up for the class. All was well and easy, until Emmett and Victoria joined the class a couple of weeks later. Unfortunately, it was too late for Bella to switch classes by then, though she wouldn't have done it anyway. She had too much pride for that.

Emmett was okay sometimes. If she left him alone, there was a higher chance she wouldn't be picked on. And occasionally, he was really fun to talk to and hang out with. Vicky was another story. She was loud, raucous, and very, very open with her opinions. She spoke her mind, no matter what it was, and she spoke it loudly. She wasn't a mean person, she just had a problem with keeping her mouth shut.

Bella sat silently in her usual seat on the risers while trying to avoid looking at Emmett as Mrs. Cope checked role. Vicky entered then and struck up a conversation with Emmett. He contributed, but kept glancing at the quiet girl in the corner who he'd made cry earlier. He felt like a total ass for what he'd done. He wished he could go up to her and apologize, but didn't know how to go about doing that. He was suddenly not sure how to approach her anymore, afraid the side of him that made her cry would come out again, and that spoke volumes about their friendship. His words got stuck in his throat before he could even get near her.

"Are you even listening to me?" Vicky demanded. He snapped his eyes back to hers. "I said I learned how to palm read yesterday!" she shouted excitedly. "Give me your hand."

He stuck his hand out and she grabbed it, wrenching it quickly to her face. "Okay, so I only memorized the Love Line and Life Line so far. Let's see..." She squinted at his huge palm, turning it this way and that. "Hmm, looks like... you'll live a full life 'til old age, only one marriage, two kids and a big family." Emmett smiled, hoping his wife ended up being Rosie. If this crap really was true, that is.

Mrs. Cope asked for the journal entry homework they were to do the night before, and while she grabbed them, Victoria went around the room reading palms. Bella looked up from her book to see what all the squeals and exclamations were for. Vicky was giving Jessica a palm reading, stating she'll marry, have a kid, divorce, then find her soul mate in her next marriage. Though she felt she'd regret it, Bella was curious.

"Hey, Vicky," she called to her. Emmett looked up in shock. Bella had never willingly tried to get Vicky's attention before. "Can you read my palm?"

Vicky smiled at her and bounded up the riser steps, which must not have been too easy in her five inch heels.

She grabbed Bella's hand and scrutinized it closely. "Please don't let it be bad," Bella whispered. Vicky took her time looking at it, and the suspended silence made Bella anxious. She told herself that no matter what Vicky "read", it wasn't true. Palm reading was a bunch of hokey, made up stuff. But it was kind of like watching a scary movie; you know before you watch it that it's fake, but when you're actually watching it, all logic goes out the window. And then you're in your room trying to sleep and every shadow looks like the creature in the movie.

So when Vicky gripped her hand harder, then threw her head back in laughter, Bella wished she hadn't been so curious.

"Hahaha! You're going to die alone! You're never going to get married." Bella gasped and ripped her hand from Vicky's, cradling it against her chest as if Vicky had physically slapped her. Her mouth and eyes were wide open as she watched Vicky shake with laughter. What about this is funny? she thought, and for the second time that day, offended tears filled her eyes.

Emmett watched Bella gape at Vicky in shock. He and Bella were the only ones not laughing. If it weren't for her outburst at lunch today, he knew he would have been laughing, too. He remembered her words about her greatest insecurity, and he was afraid Vicky was just refueling the fire that he'd started earlier. If it weren't her who had gotten the prediction, he'd be laughing his ass off; getting a palm reading like that is so shitty, it's just ironically funny.

But as he watched Bella's eyes pool, he realized how unfunny anything like that is. Hearing from someone that you'll die alone? That's just cruel. He didn't want to be that guy who got a kick out of being cruel to people anymore. And he vowed to make it up to Bella somehow.

Vicky jumped off the risers laughing, leaving Bella sitting there trying not to let the tears fall. She looked up and caught Emmett's eyes, and for a second she was happy to see concern in them, but then she remembered what happened earlier. Her stare became fiery and she turned from him. While Mrs. Cope went over the guidelines of their theater final, Bella cast her gaze downward and practiced the art of not being superstitious. She didn't look up from her lap for the rest of class.

Bella was one of the first people out when the bell rang. She was so distracted that she forgot to be excited about seeing Edward again. The palm reading was like a movie. She didn't believe any of it, but the insecure shadow in the corner of her mind kept her frightened.

Edward was eager for Bella to come in. He quickly took his seat on the right of the back table, and waited for her. His leg bounced rapidly, sending vibrations through his whole body and making the thick rimmed glasses on his nose slide down. He chuckled at his nervousness and pushed them back up just as Bella entered the room. He smiled at her, but the smile was hard to hold on to as he noticed her mood had changed back to the sad brown eyed girl he'd come to love. Of course he welcomed her company, but he just wished the light-eyed, softly smiling girl from the library were here, too.

He wouldn't pry to find out what had changed her attitude drastically in the last forty-five minutes. It wasn't his place to ask. Though she seemed to be warming up to him more, he knew he'd have to work harder to earn her trust. And that was okay, considering they'd never spoken before that day. He'd known of his feelings for Bella for a long time, but she was only now finding out hers. At least, he hoped she was. She'd let him know when she felt she could finally be open with him, and until then, he'd just be the nice, patient boy from chemistry. He would be her friend.

So as she approached where he sat, he pulled her chair out for her. She offered a kinda small, kinda sad smile, and his heart swelled.

l~SWB~l

The weekend was slow for Bella. Charlie was off with his fishing buddies, so Bella caught up with her house chores. She had washed the dishes, finished two loads of laundry, mopped the kitchen floor, cleaned the bathroom, and it was only noon when she'd finished. She didn't like chores (really, who did?), but they kept her busy. She'd almost Googled "palm reading" twice since Friday afternoon, but she always stopped herself, afraid of finding out the truth. And when she was not battling with herself to look up palm reading, she was leaning toward daydreaming of Edward. But she shot that down quickly. Nothing productive ever came of daydreaming.

She spent her weekend occupying herself in mundane household things, homework, and reading. Before she knew it, Monday had rolled around. It was just like any other Monday: sleepy and boring. She met with Alice like usual, went to class and listened to droning teachers, and followed the same rut in the hallway she'd dug in the last year. Boring and familiar. The only difference came during lunchtime. Her calculus class had let out early, so she decided to head over to Alice's history class and walk her to the cafeteria.

The door opened and Alice stepped out, giving Bella a big hug as soon as she spotted her. Bella smiled at Alice's tales of the weekend with Jasper as they walked side by side to the lunch room. Bella explained she wouldn't be joining her and she understood immediately. Alice hugged her again and entered the cafeteria. Just as Bella turned around, someone called her name.

"Bella!" Emmett was hurrying towards her. She froze and readied herself for escape, him and Jacob being the whole reason she didn't want to brave the lunch crowd. She quickly spun away, but he caught her shoulder.

"Hey, where ya goin'?" he asked. "Aren't you coming to lunch?" He was hoping to apologize today for how he'd treated her the previous Friday, and show her he could be a funny guy without being a harsh jack ass.

She pulled in a deep breath and regarded him with a steely glare. It was really all she could afford to give him at the moment. "No, Emmett. Sorry, but I'd rather not be around you for a while. I have to endure your company for theater, but I think I'd like to be alone at lunches for a while." She turned from him and walked down the hallway towards the library. She felt kind of bad for not giving him the benefit of the doubt, but he'd received too many second chances from her and now she just wanted him to leave her alone.

She wasn't aware that Emmett truly meant to be nicer to her this time. He dejectedly slumped through the cafeteria doors and disappeared.

Bella sat at the back spot of the library again. She pulled out her vintage Power Rangers lunch box and ate a turkey sandwich while reading Romeo and Juliet, another favorite of hers.

She didn't notice someone sitting next to her until the rustling of clothes and sneakers against carpet alerted her. She looked up to see Edward reaching for a brown paper bag and a book in his backpack. He pulled out a smashed PB&J and flipped open to a dog eared page. She laughed lightly when she realized they were reading the same book. He didn't usually read this book around people, because it's a "girl book", but he knew Bella wouldn't judge him. And when he saw she had the same copy, he just smiled.

She looked back down at her book and ate quietly, her body electrically aware of the extraordinary boy sitting by her side.

~l~

Bella won't always be an emotional crying lady all the time. She's just mostly like that now 'cause she's got probs.

Reviews are better than smashed PB&J's.