CHAPTER 8. Port Angeles

Summary

On the drive to the tourist town of Port Angeles, Jessica and Angela inform Bella that Tyler has been telling everyone he's taking her to the prom. This infuriates Bella. The clothes shopping goes quicker than expected; when Bella catches Angela alone, she asks about the Cullens being out of school a lot. Angela says they often go backpacking when the weather is good. When the other two girls walk down to the bay before dinner, Bella goes off on her own to find a bookstore. She sees one with a New Age motif in the windows and decides not to go there; she then sees a silver Volvo which makes her angry as it reminds her of her problem. She wanders too far away from the tourist section and passes four slightly older men who say hello to her; she soon finds two of those men are following her and when she tries to head back to a familiar area she is herded towards the other two men, waiting for her and their friends. She gets ready to fight when a silver car pulls up and someone shouts for Bella to get in. The car drives away and Bella finds herself sitting next to Edward. He asks if she's alright and she says she is, but he is clearly agitated and asks her to distract him. She talks abut planning to run over Tyler Crowley in school tomorrow because of what he's saying about her and prom.

Edward and Bella meet up with Jess and Angela just as they are leaving La Bella Italia, Bella saying only that she ran into Edward after getting lost. Edward asks to join them for dinner but Angela confesses that she and Jessica already ate; Edward then offers to drive Bella home after the two of them eat, to which Angela and Jessica agree. The host at Bella Italia is clearly attracted to Edward; she agrees to seat them in a more private part of the restaurant after Edward refuses a large table in a crowded area. Their server Amber is equally attentive to Edward while generally ignoring Bella. Bella orders mushroom ravioli while Edward has nothing to eat; they both have Cokes but Edward gives her his. She is cold so he lets her wear his jacket, as she left her own in Jessica's car. He is concerned that Bella will go into shock but is disturbed when she clearly states she is not.

Bella asks what he's doing in Port Angeles and the two begin to speak hypothetically about "Joe" reading minds and honing in on "Jane". Dropping this tone, Edward admits he has never tried to keep a specific person alive before and it's harder to keep track of Bella than other people. He thus kept tabs on Jessica and in this manner found Bella, as well as the four men. The most difficult thing was not killing those men for the thoughts they had about Bella, which is why they are having dinner together: if she had left with Angela and Jessica, Edward would have hunted those men down. They finish dinner and go to Edward's Volvo; inside, he says it's now her turn to answer questions.

Notes

Tyler Crowley's belief that he's taking Bella to the prom is used for comedic effect, but it also does two things: it highlights the problems of popularity, at least as Bella experiences it; and it also makes clear that humans will believe what they want to, bending what they perceive to suit their needs - which is a reiteration of what happened with Edward saving Bella from Tyler's van. The effect Edward's beauty has on women is described in an awestruck tone from the beginning, but now it is revealed that there is a supernatural element to this as well: that it is a "dazzle" he can use to influence humans, potentially to get what he wants and more easily prey on them.