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. He stared at me for another moment before he caved. Well, it is different, I llgive you that& Okay, fine. Emmett snorted and then shrugged. I ll help you. I grinned at him, feeling more enthusiastic about my plan now that he was onboard.Rosalie was a pain, but I would always owe her one for choosing Emmett; no onehad a better brother than mine.Emmett didn t need to practice.I whispered his lines to him once under mybreath as we walked into the classroom.Ben was already in his seat behind mine, assembling his homework to hand in.Emmett and I both sat and did the same thing.The classroom was not quiet yet; themurmur of subdued conversation would continue until Mrs.Goff called for attention.She was in no hurry, appraising the quizzes from the last class. So, Emmett said, his voice louder than necessary if he were really speakingonly to me. Did you ask Angela Weber out yet? The sound of papers rustling behind me came to an abrupt stop as Ben froze, hisattention suddenly riveted on our conversation.Angela? They re talking about Angela?Good.I had his interest. No, I said, shaking my head slowly to appear regretful. Why not? Emmett improvised. Are you chicken? I grimaced at him. No.I heard that she was interested in someone else. Edward Cullen was going to ask Angela out? But& No.I don t like that.I don twant him near her.He s& not right for her.Not& safe.I hadn t anticipated the chivalry, the protective instinct.I d been working forjealousy.But whatever worked. You re going to let that stop you? Emmett asked scornfully, improvising again. Not up for the competition? © 2008 Stephenie Meyer 255I glared at him, but made used of what he gave me. Look, I guess she reallylikes this Ben person.I m not going to try to convince her otherwise.There are othergirls. The reaction in the chair behind me was electric. Who? Emmett asked, back to the script. My lab partner said it was some kid named Cheney.I m not sure I know who heis. I bit back my smile.Only the haughty Cullens could get away with pretendingnot to know every student at this tiny school.Ben s head was whirling with shock.Me? Over Edward Cullen? But why wouldshe like me? Edward, Emmett muttered in a lower tone, rolling his eyes toward the boy. He s right behind you, he mouthed, so obviously that the human could easily read thewords. Oh, I muttered back.I turned in my seat and glanced once at the boy behind me.For a second, theblack eyes behind the glasses were frightened, but then he stiffened and squared hisnarrow shoulders, affronted by my clearly disparaging evaluation.His chin shot out andan angry flush darkened his golden-brown skin. Huh, I said arrogantly as I turned back to Emmett.He thinks he s better than me.But Angela doesn t.I ll show him&Perfect. Didn t you say she was taking Yorkie to the dance, though? Emmett asked,snorting as he said the name of the boy that many scorned for his awkwardness. That was a group decision apparently. I wanted to be sure that Ben was clearon this. Angela s shy.If B well, if a guy doesn t have the nerve to ask her out, she dnever ask him. You like shy girls, Emmett said, back to improvisation.Quiet girls.Girlslike& hmm, I don t know.Maybe Bella Swan?I grinned at him. Exactly. Then I returned to the performance. Maybe Angelawill get tired of waiting.Maybe I ll ask her to the prom. © 2008 Stephenie Meyer 256No, you won t, Ben thought, straightening up in his chair.So what if she s somuch taller than me? If she doesn t care, then neither do I.She s the nicest, smartest,prettiest girl in this school& and she wants me.I liked this Ben.He seemed bright and well-meaning.Maybe even worthy of agirl like Angela.I gave Emmett a thumbs up under the desk as Mrs.Goff stood and greeted theclass.Okay, I ll admit it that was sort of fun, Emmett thought.I smiled to myself, pleased that I d been able to shape one love story s happyending.I was positive that Ben would follow through, and Angela would receive myanonymous gift.My debt was repaid.How silly humans were, to let a six inch height differential confound theirhappiness.My success put me in a good mood.I smiled again as I settled into my chair andprepared to be entertained.After all, as Bella had pointed out at lunch, I d never seen herin action in her gym class before.Mike s thoughts were the easiest to pinpoint in the babble of voices that swarmedthrough the gym.His mind had gotten far too familiar over the last few weeks.With asigh, I resigned myself to listening through him.At least I could be sure that he would bepaying attention to Bella.I was just in time to hear him offer to be her badminton partner; as he made thesuggestion, other partnerings ran through his mind.My smile faded, my teeth clenchedtogether, and I had to remind myself that murdering Mike Newton was not a permissibleoption. Thanks, Mike you don t have to do this, you know. Don t worry, I ll keep out of your way. They grinned at each other, and flashes of numerous accidents always in someway connected to Bella flashed through Mike s head
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