"Ms. Crabnutt?"
"Yes?" I hadn't heard her return to her desk. Was Ms. Crabnutt literally the counter?
"Bella has Gym next hour, and I don't think she feels well enough. Actually, I was thinking I should take her home now." My heart double-timed. "Do you think you could excuse her from class? So that I could take her home now?" His voice was like molten honey. I could imagine how much more overwhelming his eyes would be, mostly because I'd seen them in action and so there wasn't anything left to imagine.
"Do you need to be excused too, Fredward?" The desk fluttered. Why couldn't I do that?
"No, I have Mrs. Golf, she won't mind."
"Okay, it's all taken care of. You feel better, Bella," the desk called to me. I nodded weakly, hamming it up just a bit.
"Can you walk, or do you want me to carry you again?" With his back to the receptionist-desk, his expression became sarcasmic.
"I'll walk."
I stood carefully, and I was still fine. He held the door for me, his smile polite but his eyes mocking my human weakness. I walked out into the cold, fine mist that had just begun to fall. It felt nice—the first time I'd enjoyed anything about Forks—as it washed my face clean of the sticky perspiration.
"Thanks," I said as he followed me out. "It's almost worth getting sick to miss Gym."
"Anytime." He was staring straight forward, squinting into the rain.
"So are you going? This Saturday, I mean?" I was hoping he would, though it seemed unlikely. I couldn't picture him loading up to carpool with the rest of the kids

103

Chapter 5

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