teeth when I saw how Bella was attempting to flirt. She truly had no idea what she did to the males around her, how her light flick of her lashes brought some boys to their knees, begging to go out with her. Unexpectedly, I felt sorry for the child. It couldn't possibly be his fault that she was entirely unaware to her exquisiteness.
"That was fun, Charlie," Billy said, though his thoughts were elsewhere. I can't believe I didn't get the opportunity to tell Charlie about Edward! Next time...
So, Billy did recognize me earlier. He probably weaved an intricate thread of lies into Bella's head. His recollection of his histories was more involved than I realized, but still, his opinions are based solely on half-truths.
"Come up for the next game," Charlie encouraged.
"Sure, sure," Billy said. "We'll be here. Have a good night."
He suddenly looked at Bella. I'm going to have a talk with her about this Cullen business. "You take care, Bella," he added gravely.
Billy had every right to be concerned about Bella. She was hanging around a vampire... for fun; what's more perilous than that? And not just any vampire; the one who hungered after her blood above all others of his kind. Though Bella's mind is cut off to my extraordinary gift, one thing was still certain: she was absolutely unique.
"Thanks," she mumbled and then looked away.
She didn't look incredibly pleased with Billy and without thinking about it, once again I tried to penetrate the solid wall surrounding her thoughts. Nothing, silence. So, instead, I was now observing Bella via Charlie's mind which was quite tedious at times considering his thoughts were sometimes non-existent and his human eyes were weak. I saw the back of Bella's head through his cloudy human vision as she began walking towards the stairs.
Charlie hurriedly called out to her. "Wait, Bella."
She jerked slightly and turned around warily. She had a severe look on her face, or maybe it was a look of guilt...shame? Hum, I really hope I hadn't missed anything for the short period of time that I was gone. What could she possibly be feeling guilty about? Again, I was chastising myself for not just giving up my hopeless effort to stay away from her. There was something I missed and now I was regretting my absence.
"I didn't get a chance to talk to you tonight. How was your day?" Charlie inquired.
"Good," Bella said, still hesitating on the stairs.
It looked like she was in deep thought and once again I was perturbed by the lack of thoughts emitting from her. What could possibly be going through that curious mind of hers? I tried to probe her mind once more, just to check, before I reached the silent and impenetrable barrier that was always there.
"My badminton team won all four games," she said dubiously.
I immediately remembered her hitting the net, herself, and Mike in one swing. Now that I knew she was all right, I laughed loudly. The poor girl really was the clumsiest creature I had ever known. She seriously had the grace of a drunk sailor playing golf.
"Wow, I didn't know you could play badminton!" Charlie exclaimed. Four games? Wow. I'm impressed.
I laughed even louder at the fact that he thought she was the reason why the team won. Charlie was truly taken aback and had every right to be according to her statement.
"Well, actually I can't, but my partner is really good," she admitted with chagrin.
Oh. I should have known better. "Who is it?" he insisted.
"Um..." she hesitated. "...Mike Newton."
Jealousy ripped at me. This new emotion was masterfully working its way into my daily routine and continuing to aggravate me. She didn't like him, it was obvious, yet every time they talked or I had to listen to his every fantasy, the little green monster grew to another size.
"Oh yeah - you said you were friends with the Newton kid. Nice family. Why didn't you ask him to the dance this weekend?" Charlie was smiling now and his thoughts were wistful.
There it was again, the now larger green monster tugging at my heart, making me want to bring my previous 'torture Mike' fantasies to reality. Blow torches came to mind.
"Dad!" Bella groaned, snapping me out of my unhealthy fantasy. "He's kind of dating my friend Jessica. Besides, you know I can't dance."
"Oh, yeah," Charlie muttered, disappointed. "So I guess it's good you'll be gone Saturday... I've made plans to go fishing with the guys from the station. The weather's supposed