Moonlight (The Hunter's Moon Saga; Edward BXB)

(Moonlight) 3: Botanics And La Push

It's the next day as I'm by my truck, waiting for Molina to say we're ready to go to the Botanical Garden. I turn around, and look at my truck, and the dent that the van made from when it collided with it, and I look forward, remembering Edward saving me. I look up, and see him walking with Alice and Jasper, as he's looking at me, and Danny appears in front of me. "Look at you, huh?" He asks, and I look down, laughing. "You're alive." He says in a Frankenstein voice as I look at him, and he laughs, and I shake my head, looking down after noticing Edward. "I know. False alarm, I guess." I say, looking back up to Danny, and look over to Edward. "Uh, now, I wanted to ask you, you know, if, I mean, it's like a month away but." He says, and I notice Edward staring at me, and I hear Danny laugh nervously, and drown out his voice. "So, what do you think?" Danny asks, and I look at him. "About what?" I ask. "Do you wanna go? To Prom? With me?" He asks, smiling, and laughs nervously, and I look down. "Oh, uh." I say, and look back up to him. "Prom. Dancing." I say, nodding. "Not such a good idea for me. I'd probably get us both kicked out as soon as we walk in." I say, shaking my head. "I, uh. I have something that weekend anyway. I'm going to Jacksonville that weekend." I say. "You can't go another weekend?" He asks, shaking his head. "Unfortunately not. I hate the heat. It's a non refundable ticket." I say, shaking my head. "I have an idea. You should ask Henry. I know he wants to go with you." I say, nodding and smiling, and he looks at him. "Yo, yo. Guys, come on. We gotta go. Green is what? Good. Let's go. Come on." Molina says, and we walk over to the buses. We arrive to the Botanical Garden as Molina is talking about Compost, as I'm focusing on Edward. "Egg Shells, Carrot Tops. Compost is cool. Now, stuff that in there, Emma. Now, I am going to make a steaming cup of Compost Tea." Molina says, and I see them walk off, and I walk past Edward. "What's in Jacksonville?" He asks, and I look at him, and forward again, as he's following me. "How did you know about that? And how did you know about my conversation with Henry and Antonio about you not even liking guys?" I ask, and look at him, and forward again, as he's walking close behind me. "You didn't answer my question." He says, and I glance to the right at him. "You don't answer any of mine, so.. I mean, you don't even say hey to me." I say, and look forward. "Hey." He says, and I look at him. "Are you gonna tell me how you stopped the van?" I ask. "Yeah. I had an adrenaline rush. It's very common. You can Google it." He says. "I prefer Bing." I say, sarcastically, looking forward, and he gives a light chuckle. "Floridians and the stupid heat. That's what's in Jacksonville." I say, tripping over my own two feet, and he catches my right arm, as I look at him. "Could you at least walk where you walk?" He asks, coldly, letting my arm go, and I look forward, walking a little faster. "Look." He says, and I look at him. "Im,sorry I'm being rude all the time. I just think it's the best way." He says. "Cor! Guess who just asked me to Prom." Henry says, and I look at him, and hear Edward walk off. "Who?" I ask, and look back at Edward, as he walks off. "Uh.." He says, and I look at him. "Yeah, I actually thought Danny was going to ask you." He says, as I look forward, and we begin walking. "It's not gonna be weird, though, right?" He asks. "Nope. Zero weirdness." I say, shaking my head. "You guys are great together." I say. "I know, right?" He asks. I'm walking outside, past Emma, as Edward's following me, as she holds up a worm on a stick. "Cor, look. It's a worm." She says, laughing, as I walk past her to the buses, and hear footsteps behind me, and see Edward, and he walks next to me. "Cor, we shouldn't be friends." He says. "You really should've figured that out a little earlier." I say, looking forward, and back to him. "I mean, why didn't you just let the van crush me and kill me and save yourself all this regret?" I ask, shaking my head, and we stop walking. "What, you think I regret saving you?" He asks. "I can see that you do. I just.. I don't know why." I say, shaking my head. "You don't know anything. Stop looking." He says. "I haven't even looked yet." I say, and look down. "Hi." Alice says, and I look at her, as she's smiling, and notice Jasper behind her. "Are you gonna be riding with us?" She asks. "No, our bus is full." Edward says, and walks over to the bus door, hitting it with his left hand, and the door opens, and I turn to my right, walking off, and look back at them. I arrive home from school, seeing Dad reading a newspaper, and drop my bag down by moving my right shoulder. "Your Mom called. Again." He says, and I look down, sighing, and notice an empty plate, and pick it up with my right hand. "Well, that's your fault. You shouldn't have told her about the almost accident." I say, and walk over to the sink, and put the plate in there. "Yeah, I suppose your right. She always did know how to worry." He says, as I pick up a glass with my right hand, and turn the sink on with my left, filling the glass, and turn it off, and take a sip of it. "She seems different." He says, and I look at him. "She seems happy." He says, and I swallow my water, looking down at the glass, and dump the rest into the sink. "Phil sounds like an all right guy." He says, as I sit the glass down, and turn my body around, and look at him. "Yeah, he is." I say, and look down. "Um.." I say, and exhale awkwardly, and head to my room, grabbing my bag with my left hand along the way. It's Friday, as I arrive to the lunch room, and turn around, seeing the Cullens all at one table, and Edward looks at me, playing with his pizza in his box, and Jasper looks at me, and Edward looks back down, tossing his pizza down, and I turn around, and walk over to the table with Danny, Emma, Henry, Tyler, and Antonio. "Yeah, hey." Emma says, and I look at her, as I take my gray hoodie off, now only in a white shirt and jeans with a black beanie. "La Push, doll. You in?" She asks. "Should I know what that means?" I ask. "La Push Beach down at the Quileute Rez. We're all going tomorrow." Danny says. "There's a big swell coming in." Henry says. "And I don't just surf the Internet." Emma says, as I look at her, and she stands up like a surfer. "Emma, you stood up once, and it was a foam board." Henry says, as I look at him. "But there's fishing and whale watching, too. I love whales. You should come with us." Antonio says, and I pick up one of Danny's pickles. "La Push, darling. It's La Push." Emma says, as I look at her, biting the pickle. "Ok, I'll go if you stop saying that, ok?" I ask, and they all laugh, and I swallow the pickle, and walk over to the Salad Bar. I gather some Cucumbers, Pickles, and Lettuce, arranging them neatly out of boredom, and reach for my Orange, as it falls. "Edible art?" Edward asks, as I see it bounce on his foot, and he catches it with both hands, and I look up at him. "Cor." He says, and gives the slightest smile. "Thanks. And it's out of boredom." I say, and walk past him to the other side of the bar. "You know, your mood swings are kind of giving me Whiplash." I say, and set my bowl down, and he sets the Orange down next to me with his right hand, and I look at him. "I only said it'd be better if we weren't friends, not that I didn't want to be." He says, and I shake my head. "What does that mean?" I ask, and look down, using the tongs with my right hand to grab a hard boiled egg, and put it in my bowl, and put the tongs back. "It means if you were smart, which we both know you are, you'd stay away from me." He says, and I look at him. "Ok, well, let's say for argument's sake that I'm not smart. Would you tell me the truth?" I ask. "No, probably not." He says, and I look forward and down. "I'd rather hear your theories." He says, and I shake my head. "I have considered.. you turning into the Hulk at your own free will and basically immortality from a Government Agency." I say. "That's all superhero stuff, right?" He asks, and I look up at him. "What if I'm not the hero? What if I'm.. the bad guy? The villain?" He asks, and I shake my head. "You're not. I can see what you're trying to put off, but I can see that it's just to keep people away from you. It's a mask. You're not a villain. If you were, you would of let that van crush me, but you didn't. You're the hero." I say, and look down. "Why don't we just." I say, and look back up to him. "Hang out?" I ask, and he smiles. "Everybody's going to the beach." I say, and he looks down. "Come. I mean.. have fun." I say, as he looks at me. "So, the school nerd is asking me to have fun?" He asks, sarcastically, and I playfully roll my eyes. "Which beach?" He asks. "La Push." I say. "I don't know." He says, shaking his head. "I just.." He says. "Is there something wrong with that beach that I should know about?" I ask, and he looks to his left and behind him, and back to me. "It's just a little crowded." He says. "Well, the offer still stands." I say. It's the next day, as I'm in just a gray hoodie and jeans with my black boots with my hood up, freezing, sitting in the van that almost crushed me to death, as Antonio's in the front seat. I knew I should of dressed warmer. "Hey, it's freezing." Danny says. "I'm paddling out, Coates." Tyler says, as I look at him, as I'm eating a Twizzler. "I don't know if it's worth it anymore." Emma says. "We drove all the way out here. I'm paddling out. You guys are children." Henry says. "So, I keep thinking for the right moment to ask Emma out, and it just never comes." Antonio says. "You should just ask her." I say, and look at him. "It doesn't need to be at the perfect moment. Just ask." I say, nodding. "Thanks." He says. "Mhm." I say, and see Henry approaching us, with his back to Antonio. "Hey, will you do me up?" He asks. "Yep." Antonio says, and I look forward, seeing Paul and two guys behind him. "Corn." Paul says. "Hi, Paul." I say, and look at Antonio and Henry. "Guys, this is Paul." I say. "Hey, guys. How you doing?" Paul asks. "Hey." Antonio and Henry say at the same time, and Paul walks over to me, and sits on my right side, and I look at him. "What are you, like, stalking me?" I ask, jokingly, and he laughs. "You're on my rez, remember?" He asks, smiling, and I look down. "Are you surfing?" He asks, as I look at him. "Hell no. It's freezing." I say, and look behind me, and grab the huge red blanket behind me with my right hand, and put it over me, and offer him a Twizzler, and he takes it with his left hand. "Thanks." He says. "You guys should keep Cor company. His date bailed." Henry says, as I look at him. "What date?" Emma asks, as I look at her. "He invited Edward Cullen." Henry says, as I look at him, and forward and down. "To be polite, that's it." I say, shaking my head. "I think it's nice he invited him. Nobody ever does." Antonio says. "Yeah, because Cullen's a freak." Danny says, as I look at him. "You got that right." One of Paul's friends says, and I look at them. "You guys know him?" I ask. "The Cullens don't come here." The other one says, and the two look at each other, and down. "Seems like Paul's temper is rather calm around you, short stuff." The first one says to me, as I look at him, and turn to Paul, and he shrugs his shoulders. Paul and I are walking along side the beach with our hoods up and the giant blanket around me. "What did your friends me about your "temper"?" I ask. "It's just.. I have a sorry excuse for a Father. I live with Jacob now." He says. "I'm sorry." I say. "It's all right." He says. "What did your friends mean about, you know, the Cullens don't come here?" I ask. "You caught that, huh?" He asks. "I'm not really supposed to say anything about it." He says. "Hey, I can keep a secret." I say, and he laughs. "Really, it's just like an old, scary story." He says, and I smile. "Well, I want to know." I say. "All right. Did you know Quileutes are supposedly descended from wolves?" He asks, smiling. "What? Like, wolves? Like the whole, Red Riding Hood, wolves?" I ask. "Yeah." He says, nodding. "No way." I say. "Well, that's the legend of our tribe." He says. "Ok. So what's the story about the Cullens?" I ask. "Well, they're supposedly descended from this, like, enemy clan. Jacob's Great Grandfather, the Chief, found them hunting on our land. But they claimed to be something different, so we made a treaty with them. If they promised to stay off Quileute lands, then we wouldn't expose what they really were to the Palefaces." He says, and smiles at me, and I look down, and back up to him. "I thought they just moved here." I say. "Or just moved back." He says, and looks at me, and looks forward, smiling, and I hear a scream, and flinch, and see Emma chasing Antonio with a green snake. "It touched my hand. A snake! Go away Emma!" Antonio exclaims, laughing. I look back at Paul, as he has his arms crossed. "Well, what are they really?" I ask, and he laughs. "It's just a story, Corn. Meant to scare people because of their ridiculously pale skin. Come on, let's go." He says, and we begin to walk off.