He flashed a brilliant smile, looking at me appreciatively in a way I was learning to recognize. Why does this keep happening to me? Why do all of these hicks want poor little me? I wasn't the only one who noticed that I seemed to be getting all the male attention.
"You know Bella, Squaw?" Lauren asked from beneath her dykey haircut.
"We've sort of known each other since I was born," he laughed idiotically, smiling at me again. God, this was not happening.
"How nice." She didn't sound like she thought it was nice at all, and her pale, fishy eyes narrowed at the thought of it.
"Bella," she called again, watching my face carefully, "I was just saying to my boyfriend Tyler that it was too bad none of the Cullens could come out today. Didn't anyone think to invite them?" Her expression of concern was unconvincing.146
"You mean Dr. Carlisle Cullen's family?" the tall, older boy asked before I could respond, much to Lauren's absolute irritation. He was really closer to a man than a boy, and his voice was very deep and wise.
"Yes, do you know them?" she asked condescendingly, evidently believing that a wise man is no match for her wits.
"The Cullens don't come here. They know what they did," he said in a tone that closed the subject.
Tyler, trying to make me jealous by getting her attention, asked Lauren's opinion on a CD he held. I can guarantee you that whatever she said, it was wrong.
I stared at the deep-voiced boy, taken aback by how much of a man he was, but he was looking away toward the dark forest behind us. He'd said that the Cullens didn't come here, that they knew what they'd done, but his tone had implied something more—that they weren't allowed; they were prohibited. His manner left a strange impression on me, and I tried to ignore it without success.
146. This is likely untrue, since Lauren has actually taken acting lessons since she was a toddler. It is more likely that Bella hates Lauren for having, at least as far as Bella perceives it, a homosexual haircut.