Chapter Four (in which everyone does things rather poorly)

After reading Chapter Four, I have two very, very big concerns-- (1) There is a 'Girls' Choice Spring Dance' coming up. Prom has also been mentioned, and (2) if my instincts don't fail me, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to stop hearing about one or both of these events for the remainder of the book. Ah, well... onwards and downwards, I suppose.

CHAPTER SUMMARY-- Remember how I mentioned that at the end of Chapter Three, Bella had a dream about Edward, and that it might be important later? Well, guess what... the beginning of Chapter Four IS the dream. That being said, it's not especially important. Basically, Bella keeps dreaming that she's following or chasing Edward in various scenarios, and he's always just out of reach (gee, how will we ever be able to interpret that one?). Anyhoo, now that Edward has saved Bella's life, he's acting very standoffish and won't talk to her/look at her/etc, not to mention his eyes have gotten darker again (hear that, kids? Stay off the drugs). Then (surprise, surprise) Bella stresses out about Edward's aloofness for far more pages than is right and proper. Finally, he apologizes for ignoring her, but says it's much better if they aren't friends. She gets her knickers in a knot over the whole thing, chews him out, then decides to retaliate by ignoring him back. I feel it's important to mention that Edward is very civil through all this. In fact, I'm going to digress on this topic for a moment. MOMENTARY DIGRESSION-- I have to admit, I was surprised how sympathetic I was toward Edward in this chapter. He at least tries to be reasonable, and he's extremely polite to Bella. He even picks up her books after she drops them all while verbally abusing him--which she does every time he tries to talk to her in this chapter. Yes, she spends the entire chapter whining about how he's ignoring her, then every time he does acknowledge her, she bawls him out-- which, really, he doesn't deserve (yet). So far in the book, Edward has come across as that sort of stuffy, Euro-fruity-looking kid in class who acts insane the first time you meet him, but then turns out to be a pretty intelligent, pleasant person. He's probably manic-depressive, and he's not anyone you'd make after-school plans with, but he's a casual buddy. However, that image drastically shifts at the very end of the chapter, which we'll get to momentarily... END DIGRESSION. New topic-- it turns out, the spring dance is coming up. No, not prom, that's coming up too. There are TWO spring dances coming up, and even though the more pressing one is girls' choice, pretty much every guy Bella knows at this point (remember Mike and Eric? And the guy who almost crunched Bella with his van?) asks her to ask him. She manages to shove them off on all the girls she knows (remember Jessica and co? No? That's because they're not important) by making sudden plans to go to Seattle that day. There continues to be much hoopla about the dance, and Edward continues to be standoffish. Skip to the last page... Edward ends up offering Bella a ride to Seattle. She retorts that he said they shouldn't be friends. He says that it's true, and they shouldn't be friends, but he's 'tired of trying to stay away' from her. It should be noted that he says that last bit with smoldering, Fabio-esque intensity. The words 'smoldering' and 'intensity' really are both used in this scene. Several times. Anyway, how can Bella say no to such an intense smolder? She agrees to ride with him. Now, here's where it gets fun-- not thirty seconds (in real-ish time) after he tells Bella they shouldn't be friends, then convinces her to ride all the way to Seattle with him, Edward says, 'You really should stay away from me.'

He follows up with, 'I'll see you in class.'

That's it, dude. You just lost your casual-buddy status.

NOTABLE NOTES--

1. Bella has female friends. Their names are Jessica, Angela, and Lauren. They might come up later, but thus far they haven't been important enough to mention.

2. Edward drives a silver Volvo. It's not important at all, but I found it about as interesting as anything else.

3. Speaking of the silver Volvo, one of Edward's main selling points for getting Bella to ride with him to Seattle is that his car can make it there on one tank of gas. When she says her truck's mileage is none of his business, he answers, 'The wasting of finite resources is everyone's business.' Aw, he's so eco-friendly. I bet he's also a 'vegetarian'.

4. Even though pretty much everyone in the world knows Edward's really a vampire, there's another perfect explanation for him. He's clearly gay.