Chapter Number: Four
Chapter Name: Invitations
Page Numbers: 68-84 (Hardcover)
Date of Chapter: January 25 – March 3 2005
Summary: The chapter starts with Bella dreaming of Edward for the first time. She dreams of his skin glowing slightly in the dark as he walks away from her. No matter how loud Bella calls to him in her dream, he never turns round. She has the same dream every night.
Back at school, much to Bella’s horror, she has become the center of attention because of the accident. Tyler Crowley now appears to be far too interested in her, making it three boys in her year who are now in pursuit of her affections.
Despite Bella’s best attempts, no-one else seems interested in Edward’s role as hero of the accident, they hadn’t even realised he had been involved until they saw him once the van had been removed. Bella realizes that she is more aware of Edward and what he is doing than anyone else.
Although at the hospital Bella and Edward had been angry with each other, Bella now feels more gratitude than anything else. The day after the accident she tries to make conversation in biology, however, Edward merely nods to her before turning away from her again.
Edward now ignores Bella. She comes to the conclusion that he must regret having saved her life, however, there are times when she wonders whether he is as oblivious to her as he makes out as there are occasions when his fists tense up again when she sits next to him, suggesting he his aware of her.
This silence makes Bella miserable. She continues to watch Edward from a distance, noticing his eyes growing darker again, however, in lessons when they are in closer contact she behaves as though he does not exist.
Bella is unable to disguise how miserable she is feeling, prompting her mother to call concerned about the tone of Bella’s emails.
As the silence between Bella and Edward continues, Mike becomes more confident, pleased that there does not seem to be any friendship between them. He starts sitting on Bella’s desk before biology and talking to her more again.
On the first Tuesday in March, Jessica calls Bella to ask her permission to invite Mike to the girls’ choice dance. Jessica seems to think that Bella would be intending to ask Mike herself, however, Bella has no intentions of doing this as she is not interested in Mike in this way and is not a dancer – due to her clumsy nature.
The reluctant way Jessica tries to persuade Bella to go to the dance leads Bella to suspect that Jessica prefers Bella’s popularity rather than her actual company. Bella sees this popularity as ‘inexplicable’; she has no idea why she is so popular in this school.
Jessica asks Mike to the dance but he tells her he has to think about it. He discusses this with Bella, hoping she was going to ask him but she tells him to say yes to Jessica. Mike thinks Bella has asked Edward as he looks in Edward’s direction when he asks Bella if she has asked anyone else. Bella comes up with an excuse to get her out of attending the dance and explains that she will be in Seattle.
While Mike and Bella are discussing the dance, Bella notices that Edward appears to be listening as his head tilts in their direction when Mike asked her if she had asked anyone else. After Mike leaves her table, Bella finds Edward staring at her so intensely she fails to hear the teacher asking a question. The moment is only broken when Edward, somewhat reluctantly, turns away to answer Mr. Banner’s question.
At the end of the lesson, Edward speaks to Bella for the first time in a long time. While he apologises for not speaking to her, Edward also confuses Bella with his rather cryptic comments about how it would be best if they were not friends. Bella gets annoyed, accusing Edward of regretting having saved her life. This in turn angers Edward and the conversation ends with Bella trying to storm out of the room, unfortunately she stumbles and drops her books; Edward is quickly there, picking up the books and handing them to her.
Bella’s next lesson was Gym, which Bella dreaded as they were playing basketball. She played worse than usual, distracted by thoughts of Edward, Bella falls over repeatedly, sometimes taking others with her.
On escaping Gym, Bella heads for her truck. Eric was waiting for her there and he asks her to the dance, surprising Bella. Bella turns him down, using the Seattle excuse again. Eric suggests that they could go to another dance together and Bella thoughtlessly agrees with him before regretting giving him any encouragement.
As Eric leaves her, Bella is irritated to hear Edward chuckle as he walks past her to his car. As she pulls out in her truck Edward cuts her off with his car, stopping to wait for his family and preventing Bella from going anywhere.
While waiting for Edward to move, a queue forms behind Bella. Tyler uses the delay to get out of his car to talk to her. Like Eric and Mike before him, he wants Bella to go to the dance with him. Having heard that she had turned down Eric and Mike, Tyler feels confident of success, not believing Bella’s Seattle excuse. She lets him down as firmly as possible, irritated by his confidence and presumptions of her motives. He too presumes there is still the prom for them to go to together.
As Tyler returns to his car, Bella notices Edward watching her in his mirror. He is laughing as if he had just heard her conversation.
Back home, Jessica rings to tell Bella that Mike has agreed to go to the dance with her. Demonstrating concern for the happiness of others, Bella suggests partners for both Eric and Tyler.
Bella is still preoccupied by Edward and his strange behaviour. Coming to the conclusion that he is aware she feels more strongly about him than he can about her, Bella decides to leave him alone, believing herself strong enough to carry her decision through.
Before going to bed that night, Bella tells Charlie of her plans to go to Seattle the night of the Dance. He worries that she will get lost in the big city and suggests that he goes with her to prevent her being alone, however, Bella puts him off by saying she will be in dressing rooms all day.
The following day at school, Bella parks as far away from Edward as she can to try to stick to her resolve. She is prevented from carrying out her decision by the sudden appearance of Edward when she drops her keys. He explains that he had caused the traffic jam the previous day deliberately so that Tyler could ask Bella to the dance. This winds Bella up, almost irrationally, as she feels he is deliberately irritating her.
Edward continues to shock Bella by asking her to go to Seattle with him on the day of the dance. Bella is confused, being under the impression he did not want to be her friend. Edward explains that he does want to be her friend he just does not think it is a good idea.
Looking at Edward, Bella finds it difficult to concentrate and has to answer him with a nod. Before heading to lessons, Edward warns Bella to stay away from him.
Characters involved: Bella Swan, Edward Cullen, Tyler Crowley, Mike Newton, Jessica Stanley, Eric Yorkie, Charlie Swan, Mr. Banner
Characters Mentioned: Angela Weber, Lauren Mallory, Carlisle Cullen, Alice Cullen, Esme Cullen, Emmett Cullen, Jasper Hale, Rosalie Hale
Places visited: Forks High School, The Swan residence
Memorable quotes:
His golden eyes grew perceptibly darker day by day.
~ Bella observing Edward.
It was easier to talk to him coherently that way.
~ Bella explaining why she felt the need to keep her eyes closed when speaking to Edward.
"Appear out of thin air."
~ Bella describing how quickly Edward seems to appear by her side.
"It would be more…prudent for you not to be my friend."
~ Edward advising Bella on their relationship.
Important Information Learned:
Edward reacts to a conversation he couldn’t possibly have heard as if he had heard it.
When looking into Edward’s eyes, Bella gets completely tongue-tied.
Edward thinks that it is dangerous for Bella to be friends with him.
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