"Stephenie Meyer - Twikight 02 - New Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meyer Stephanie)

believe that I deserved this degree of good fortune.

His sister Alice was standing by his side, waiting for me, too.

Of course Edward and Alice weren't really related (in Forks the story was that all the Cullen siblings
were adopted by Dr. Carlisle Culler and his wife, Esme, both plainly too young to have teenage children),
but their skin was precisely the same pale shade, their eyes had the same strange golden tint, with the
same deep, bruise-like shadows beneath them. Her face, like his, was also startlingly beautiful. To
someone in the knowтАФsomeone like meтАФthese similarities marked them for what they were.
The sight of Alice waiting thereтАФher tawny eyes brilliant with excitement, and a small silver-wrapped
square in her handsтАФmade me frown. I'd told Alice I didn't want anything, anything, not gifts or even
attention, for my birthday. Obviously, my wishes were being ignored.

I slammed the door of my '53 Chevy truckтАФa shower of rust specks fluttered down to the wet
blacktopтАФand walked slowly toward where they waited. Alice skipped forward to meet me, her pixie
face glowing under her spiky black hair.

"Happy birthday, Bella!"

"Shh!" I hissed, glancing around the lot to make sure no one had heard her. The last thing I wanted was
some kind of celebration of the black event.

She ignored me. "Do you want to open your present now or later?" she asked eagerly as we made our
way to where Edward still waited.

"No presents," I protested in a mumble.

She finally seemed to process my mood. "OkayтАж later, then. Did you like the scrapbook your mom sent
you? And the camera from Charlie?"

I sighed. Of course she would know what my birthday presents were. Edward wasn't the only member
of his family with unusual skills. Alice would have "seen" what my parents were planning as soon as they'd
decided that themselves.

"Yeah. They're great."

"I think it's a nice idea. You're only a senior once. Might as well document the experience."

"How many times have you been a senior?"

"That's different."

We reached Edward then, and he held out his hand for mine. I took it eagerly, forgetting, for a moment,
my glum mood. His skin was, as always, smooth, hard, and very cold. He gave my fingers a gentle
squeeze. I looked into his liquid topa2 eyes, and my heart gave a not-quite-so-gentle squeeze of its own.
Hearing the stutter in my heartbeats, he smiled again.

He lifted his free hand and traced one cool fingertip around the outside of my lips as he spoke. "So, as
discussed, I am not allowed to wish you a happy birthday, is that correct?"