Midnight Sun(14)

focused on the girl's penetrating gaze. She looked down quickly, hiding behind her thick hair again.
What was she thinking? The frustration seemed to be getting more acute as time went on, rather than
dulling. I tried-uncertain in what I was doing for I'd never tried this before-to probe with my mind at the
silence around her. My extra hearing had always come to me naturally, without asking; I'd never had to
work at it. But I concentrated now, trying to break through whatever shield surrounded her.#p#分页标题#e#
Nothing but silence.
What is it about her? Jessica thought, echoing my own frustration.
"Edward Cullen is staring at you," she whispered in the Swan girl's ear, adding a giggle. There was no
hint of her jealous irritation in her tone. Jessica seemed to be skilled at feigning friendship.
I listened, too engrossed, to the girl's response.
"He doesn't look angry, does he?" she whispered back.
So she had noticed my wild reaction last week. Of course she had.
The question confused Jessica. I saw my own face in her thoughts as she checked my expression, but I
did not meet her glance. I was still concentrating on the girl, trying to hear something. My intent focus
didn't seem to be helping at all.
"No," Jess told her, and I knew that she wished she could say yes-how it rankled inside her, my staringthough
there was no trace of that in her voice. "Should he be?"
"I don't think he likes me," the girl whispered back, laying her head down on her arm as if she were
suddenly tired. I tried to understand the motion, but I could only make guesses. Maybe she was tired.
"The Cullens don't like anybody," Jess reassured her. "Well, they don't notice anybody enough to like
them." They never used to. Her thought was a grumble of complaint. "But he's still staring at you."
"Stop looking at him," the girl said anxiously, lifting her head from her arm to make sure Jessica obeyed
the order.
Jessica giggled, but did as she was asked.
The girl did not look away from her table for the rest of the hour. I thought-though, of course, I could
not be sure-that this was deliberate. It seemed like she wanted to look at me. Her body would shift
slightly in my direction, her chin would begin to turn, and then she would catch herself, take a deep
breath, and stare fixedly at whoever was speaking.
I ignored the other thoughts around the girl for the most part, as they were not, momentarily, about
her. Mike Newton was planning a snow fight in the parking lot after school, not seeming to realize that
the snow had already shifted to rain. The flutter of soft flakes against the roof had become the more
common patter of raindrops. Could he really not hear the change? It seemed loud to me.
When the lunch period ended, I stayed in my seat. The humans filed out, and I caught myself trying to
distinguish the sound of her footsteps from the sound of the rest, as if there was something important
or unusual about them. How stupid.
My family made no move to leave, either. They waited to see what I would do.
Would I go to class, sit beside the girl where I could smell the absurdly potent scent of her blood and feel
the warmth of her pulse in the air on my skin? Was I strong enough for that? Or had I had enough for
one day?
"I... think it's okay," Alice said, hesitant. "Your mind is set. I think you'll make it through the hour."
But Alice knew well how quickly a mind could change.
"Why push it, Edward?" Jasper asked. Though he didn't want to feel smug that I was the one who was
weak now, I could hear that he did, just a little. "Go home. Take it slow."
"What's the big deal?" Emmett disagreed. "Either he will or he won't kill her. Might as well get it over
with, either way."
"I don't want to move yet," Rosalie complained. "I don't want to start over. We're almost out of high
school, Emmett. Finally."
I was evenly torn on the decision. I wanted, wanted badly, to face this head on rather than running away
again. But I didn't want to push myself too far, either. It had been a mistake last week for Jasper to go so
long without hunting; was this just as pointless a mistake?
I didn't want to uproot my family. None of them would thank me for that. But I wanted to go to my
biology class. I realized that I wanted to see her face again.
That's what decided it for me. That curiosity. I was angry with myself for feeling it. Hadn't I promised
myself that I wouldn't let the silence of the girl's mind make me unduly interested in her? And yet, here I
was, most unduly interested.
I wanted to know what she was thinking. Her mind was closed, but her eyes were very open. Perhaps I
could read them instead.
"No, Rose, I think it really will be okay," Alice said. "It's...firming up. I'm ninety-three percent sure that
nothing bad will happen if he goes to class." She looked at me inquisitively, wondering what had