Twilight Chapter 11 {Complications}

Here it is, the moment no one has been waiting for; my review of Twilight chapter 11. Since I have a full blown cold, complete with coughing, sneezing, and runny nose, I layed in bed all night. I squeezed in a little reading before "Prison Break" started.

So, during biology class Bella and Edward are within close ... very close ... proximity of each other while in the dark. Mr. Banner was making the class watch, yet another, video. Bella and Edward both seem to have the urge to have physical contact, yet neither one dared. Nobody wanted to make the first move. The educational video was pretty much wasted material on this pair; it was impossible for them to focus on anything but each other.

The next hour Bella is in gym class hitting herself in the head and clipping Mike in one single swing of her racket. Now, that takes talent!

When class is over Mike starts in on Bella about his disapproval of her relationship with Edward. (Who cares what you think, Mike? What are you, her father? Jealousy doesn't become you.) Mike's observation is that Edward looks at Bella like she's something to eat. [giggle] If he only knew just how right he was.

Edward waits for Bella outside of the gym. From a couple of Edward's comments Bella figures out that he was eavesdropping on her and Mike. She was none-too-happy about it either. Well, she eluded to the fact that she wasn't very graceful in gym class, so he was curious.

Edward diffuses Bella's annoyance with an offer of an apology and willingness to let her drive on their little road trip on Saturday. That's probably the best offer she'll get, so she took it.

The following morning when Edward picks Bella up for school he plays "twenty questions" which lasts the entire day. He asked trivial questions from her favorite color to movies she liked and hated. I think it's cute that he wants to know every minute detail of her existence, yet, it would get old after awhile. Only because he has such a pretty, irresistible face, would I allow him to get away with it. Let's face it, who could resist that face?

After school they parked in front of Charlie's house for several hours, continuing the interrogation. This time he asks more difficult questions like what Bella misses about Arizona. Then he wants her to describe every detail that he wouldn't know about.

When Bella realizes that time slipped away from her, Edward tells her it's "twilight," and explains how, "It's the safest time of day for us . . . The easiest time. But also the saddest, in a way . . . the end of another day, the return of night." [page 224] I guess if you're a vampire and never sleep, the nights would be sad. I'd imagine it would be like the rest of the non-vampire world didn't exist since they're all sleeping. Meanwhile, vegetarian vampires, such as the Cullens, would just be finding things to do to bide the time until sunrise again.

Anyway, as Edward reaches over to open Bella's door, he freezes and clenches his jaw. "Another complication" was approaching; Jacob Black and his dad, Billy. As soon as Bella was out of the car Edward was down the street and around the corner. He avoided the Blacks like the plague.

Will Billy tell Charlie that Edward is bad news? Or will he mind his own Quileute bees wax?

Inspiration

After seeing the midnight release of Twilight (you can read about my experience here) I was inspired to finish my re-read of the book so that I can complete my chapter by chapter posts. So if anyone is interested, my thoughts on chapter 11 should be posted within a few days.

Not Happening

Well, "tomorrow" came and went with no post about chapter 11 in sight. I don't think it's going to happen any time soon either. I'll be packing for my trip to Hawaii. Then I'll be flying to Hawaii on the 21st and returning on the 29th. My intention is to take the book with me to do some light reading while traveling in comfort with the first classers. Yes, I'll probably be sipping some wine and taking full advantage of the free beverages. So, unless I find myself totally bored out of my mind while I'm in Hawaii (which is highly doubtful), my next post will be in November. Until then . . . aloha . . . a hui hou. See you when I get back.

Help, I'm Drowning!

If you're a returning visitor you'll notice that I'm stuck on chapter 11 of Twilight. The only excuse is that I'm finding myself to be an overachiever this year. Let me tell you all the things I'm finding myelf involved in:

1) MOMS Club Historian; I basically do the scrapbook pages.
2) Cub Scouts
3) Passport Club Scheduler and Checker
4) 1st Grade Classroom Volunteer

Did I miss anything? I don't think so. What I'm trying to say is that I'm drowning in volunteer activities and haven't had time to read. I'm going to try to post my insignificant thoughts about chapter 11 by tomorrow.

Twilight Book Club

Thursday was the big event: our first Twilight book club meeting. Our hostess was on the ball with the decorations. We were greeted with this welcome sign. Do you get the significance of the plastic "forks?"

Then there was the table decor complete with apples, a bat and vampire teeth (even though we know that vampires don't really have fangs or morph into bats).

I was even rubbing elbows with bats in the bathroom.

And, of course, we can't forget the wine.

Claudia was even prepared with questions about the book. It was a good discussion. Only a couple of the ladies failed to read the book, but they were brought up to date pretty quickly. I had to keep biting my tongue to stop myself from blurting out spoilers for the ladies who didn't read the rest of the books.

We didn't officially decide on our next book, but I think we can assume that we'll be completing the series before even thinking about moving on. We already reserved November 21st for opening night of the movie. I can't wait! Thanks, Claudia, for such an awesome Twilight book club premier. It was the first, but it won't be the last.

Twilight: Chapter 10 {Interrogations}

The chapter begins with Bella, once again, wondering if she had dreamed about the previous day. The evidence (her missing jacket) is further proof that it really did happen.

The weather is foggy; no excuses for Edward to skip school. She's obviously anxious to see her beautiful Edward again. Little does she know that she'll be seeing him sooner than later: He was parked in the drive way, waiting to give her a lift to school. She could have turned down his offer, but why would she?

When they reach the school parking lot, it occurs to Bella that Edward's family wasn't with him. Brilliant observation that only took the entire trip for her to realize. I guess she was too busy drinking in Edward's beauty.

She finds out that the rest of the Cullens took Rosalie's red hot sports car. They all like to drive fast therefore indulge themselves with fast cars. It's not like they can't afford it.

As Edward and Bella walk toward the school, Jessica, with her eyes bugging out, spots them together. Jess remembers Bella's jacket and hands it to her. Jess has a million and one questions for Bella, but they have to wait until trig class.

When that time finally comes around Jessica drops the questions like they were going out of style. Bella fills in the blanks about what transpired with Edward the day before (leaving out all the vampire details, of course).

Bella admits to liking Edward; Jessica deduces that Edward likes Bella back. Bella concludes that Edward doesn't like Bella as much as she likes him. Edward is listening to the conversation, as promised, through Jessica's thoughts; he's disturbed by the last statement Bella makes, and brings it up during their lunch date.

When Edward makes Bella explain herself she verbalizes the fact that it seems to her that he's always trying to say goodbye when he's saying something else. (We already know how cryptic Edward is.)

The conversation turns into a debate: Bella arguing that she's so ordinary, and he's not; there's no way that he could possibly like her more. Edward arguing that if he's willing to hurt himself by saying goodbye to her to keep her safe, then that's a display of the ultimate sacrifice of love. (Well, he didn't say love, but I know that's what he meant.)

The topic of their upcoming trip to Seattle emerges. The weather forecast is sunshine which means Edward can't be out in public. They plan on spending the day together, alone. On one condition . . . Bella wants to drive because she can't stand the way Edward drives. On page 213 Edward remarks, "Of all the things about me that could frighten you, you worry about my driving." (I can totally empathize with that. I'd prefer to drive my husband rather than the other way around. It's a control issue. With all those crazy drivers out on the road, I don't like feeling helpless in the passenger's seat.)

Although Edward would prefer that Bella inform Charlie of who she'll be with on Saturday, Bella refuses; she'd rather take her chances. She knows that Edward would never hurt her. If that was his intention then why would he save her life so many times? He's her guardian angel.

Somehow, Edward's most recent hiking trip with Emmett comes up. As it turns out, the brothers were hunting bear. Grizzly is Emmett's favorite, Mountain Lion is Edward's. Bella wondered out loud if she would ever get to witness this hunting phenomenon. Edward was appalled by the thought. He doesn't want to discuss it any further and hurries them off to class before they're late; Bella was so deep into their conversation that she didn't realize the cafeteria was nearly deserted.

Twilight: Chapter 9 {Theory}

On their way back to Forks, Edward explains to Bella how his gift of reading minds works; of how his ability gains distance as his familiarity with a mind grows stronger (never more than a couple miles).

Edward's analogy put things more into perspective for me. I can see how not being able to escape everyone's simultaneous thoughts can be very distracting. It must be like trying to listen to ten people speaking to you at once. Edward, however, seems to have perfected the art of tuning everyone out, and zeroing in on one person. (I'm still practicing tuning out just two little people.)

After Bella looks at the speedometer and realizes Edward has a lead foot (he was going over 100 mph), she has a hissy fit. Bella goes on about how she was raised as a law abiding citizen because her dad is a cop. Edward hates driving slow (and from what I hear, so do some Californians), but finally slows down to 80 mph after Bella accuses him of likely being able to walk away from the car without a scratch if they crashed, then realizing that Bella wouldn't be so lucky.

Finally, Edward coaxes Bella into sharing her theory of just what she thinks Edward is. She tells him about how she tricked Jacob into telling her what he knew about the Cullens, and about going home to do research on the internet, then giving up because even if Edward was a vampire it didn't matter to her. She was still curious, though. So Edward killed some of that curiosity with answers.

First the myths: Vampires don't burn in the sun or sleep in coffins. However, they can never sleep. (Can you imagine what you could get accomplished if you never had to sleep? I'd have at least an extra seven hours in my days. That's assuming my boys continued their sleeping pattern.)

Then on to the big question of Edward's (and the rest of the Cullens's) diet. Jacob said the Cullens were supposed to be safe because they don't hunt people; only animals, but the Quilutes still wanted them off of their land just in case. Who could blame them? Better safe than sorry, but Edward agrees that the Quilutes should keep their distance; Edward himself considers the Cullens to be dangerous.

He goes on to tell Bella about their inside joke: calling themselves "vegetarians" because they drink only animal blood, and not human blood. He compares it to "living on tofu and soy milk." While the animal blood doesn't completely satisfy their thirst, it keeps them satisfied enough to resist the urge for the alternative . . . most of the time.

While Edward answers a lot of Bella's questions, he also raised a new one: why can't vampires be out in the sunlight where anyone can see them? What would they see? He promised to show her some time.

They both confess that being separated makes each of them anxious (aww, isn't that cute?).

Once Bella is safely at home and in the comfort of her own room, she concludes three things: 1) Edward is a vampire. 2) A part of him thirsted for her blood. 3) She is "unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him."