"I can take care of that." I hadn't noticed Edward moving to my side, but he spoke now in my ear. "Go sit down and look pale," he muttered.
That wasn't a challenge; I was always pale, and my recent swoon had left a light sheen of sweat on my face. I sat in one of the creaky folding chairs and rested my head against the wall with my eyes closed. Fainting spells always exhausted me.
I heard Edward speaking softly at the counter.
"Ms. Cope?"
"Yes?" I hadn't heard her return to her desk.
"Bella has Gym next hour, and I don't think she feels well enough.
Actually, I was thinking I should take her home now. Do you think you could excuse her from class?" His voice was like melting honey. I could imagine how much more overwhelming his eyes would be.
"Do you need to be excused, too, Edward?" Ms. Cope fluttered. Why couldn't I do that?
"No, I have Mrs. Goff, she won't mind."
"Okay, it's all taken care of. You feel better, Bella," she 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, his expression became sarcastic.
"I'll walk." I stood carefully, and I was still fine. He held the door for me, his smile polite but his eyes mocking. I walked out into the cold, fine mist that had just begun to fall. It felt nice — the first time I'd enjoyed the constant moisture falling out of the sky — 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 from school; he didn't belong in the same world. But just hoping that he might gave me the first twinge of enthusiasm I'd felt for the outing.
Swoon 昏暈
Sheen 光輝
Creaky 吱嘎作響的
Perspiration 流汗
Carpool 拼車
“我能照看好自己。”我這才注意到，愛德華站到了我的身旁。但他緊貼著我的耳朵低聲說道：“去那邊坐下來，裝出蒼白虛弱的樣子。”他的聲音近乎呢喃。
這不是什麼難事。我一向很蒼白，而且剛剛的昏厥讓我的臉沁出了一層薄汗。我坐在其中一張吱嘎作響的摺疊椅上，頭抵著牆，閉目養神。暈厥總讓我筋疲力盡。
我聽見愛德華站在櫃檯旁柔聲說著話。
“柯普女士？”
“怎麼了？”我沒聽見她回到她的桌子上的聲音。
“貝拉的下一堂課是體育課，我覺得她還沒恢復到能上體育課的地步。事實上，我覺得我應該現在就把她送回家去。您看，能不能准許她下堂課請假呢？”他的聲音甜得像融化的蜂蜜一樣。我甚至能想象出，他的眼神會是多麼的令人難以抗拒。
“你也需要准假嗎，愛德華？”柯普女士急不可耐地說道。為什麼我就做不到這一點呢？
“不必了，我有高夫太太呢，她不會介意的。”
“好了，一切都安排好了。你感覺好些了吧，貝拉。”她遠遠地衝我喊道。我虛弱地點點頭，為了顯得更誇張一些，我只是略微抬了抬頭。
“你能走路嗎？或者你想讓我再把你抱出去？”一背對著那位接待員，他立刻換上了一副挖苦的表情。
“我能自己走。”
我小心翼翼地站起來，感覺還算良好。他為我撐著門，彬彬有禮地微笑著，眼裡卻寫著嘲弄。我走出屋外，踏入涼絲絲的雨霧裡。細雨剛開始下，來得正好。感覺好極了——我頭一次開始欣賞這些源源不斷從天而降的雨水——它們沖刷著我的臉，洗去那些粘溼的冷汗。
“謝謝。”他緊跟著走出來，我對他說道。“可以不用上體育課，生點病也算是物有所值了。”
“不用謝。”他直視著前方，眯著眼看進雨幕裡。
“那麼，你會來嗎？我是指，這週六？”我確實希望他能來，儘管這不太可能。我無法想象出他揹著大包小包，和學校裡別的孩子一起搭車旅行的情形。他和我們不是同一個世界的人。我大概只能指望他打擊一下我，讓我感受到足以擊潰我對這次遠足的熱情的第一波痛苦。
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