Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyer does. I only own the parts of this story not taken from her works.

After the incident with Tyler's van, Edward thought he could stay away from Bella Swan while still sitting next to her every day in Biology. When his obsession leads him to the corner of her bedroom at night, his struggle to control the monster inside of him takes a new and unexpected turn.

Author's note: We're starting the day after Bella gets asked to the dance by Mike, Eric and Tyler... the day after Edward starts talking to Bella again. If you haven't read the partial draft of Midnight Sun, I recommend reading chapter 5 of that at some point, but you won't need it to follow along. Enjoy and please leave me some feedback when you finish!

Also - I have been told that this story gets off to a slow start but picks up somewhat significantly after the second chapter. So try to make it there before you give up on me :)

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Tainted v. tr.

1. To affect with or as if with a disease.
2. To affect with decay or putrefaction; spoil.
3. To corrupt morally.
4. To affect with a tinge of something reprehensible...

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Prologue

Bella was dreaming. She was in a clearing somewhere surrounded by woods on all sides. The trees were grown so thickly together that they looked black. There was no moon but she could see sharply, clearly how the blackness surrounding her contrasted from the pale white of her skin. She was standing in the middle of the clearing.

Bella...

Someone whispered behind her. She turned to see Edward Cullen walking or floating towards her, she couldn't tell which. In the distance she could see his family standing in a group behind him. They didn't move, an assembly of perfection watching them, watching her. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett were there with Dr. Cullen and another woman, presumably his wife. Edward held out his hand.

Bella, we have to go, don't be scared. We're going to take care of you now.

She wanted to tell him she was fine and that he needed to stop worrying about her health constantly but she couldn't speak. She moved towards him, reaching out to grab his offered hand. When she touched his skin her spine tingled. Even in this dream she could feel their chemistry electrify her. He looked into her eyes again and smiled as he closed his hand around hers. Her spine tingled again.

Don't worry, Bella, I won't let anything happen to you.

Hand in hand she began to walk with Edward towards his family. They remained immobile but she could feel their anxiety and she approached. Once they had covered about half the distance between them Edward stopped. Bella looked up at him, confused. He reached up and gently held her face in his hands as he leaned in to kiss her forehead. She closed her eyes allowing herself to drown in the sensation it caused as his lips moved down her neck to her shoulder.

I'll be waiting for you on the other side, I promise.

She opened her eyes to look up at him but he was already gone. She barely caught a glimpse of him standing now perfectly still with his family across the clearing before she realized that she was surrounded completely by a wall red, hot fire.

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Friends

The morning began as normally as most others. The alarm clock rang. The snooze button was hit, twice and then she started to get ready. She stretched. Her shoulder was hurting and she had a pretty good idea why. She hadn't slept very well at all the night before. She went to the closet, pulled a pair of jeans out of the laundry pile, and added a grey cotton t-shirt and a windbreaker and prepared for the promise of another boring day at Forks High School.

She did not put on makeup this morning, like every morning, but she did stop in front of the mirror to pull her warm brown hair up into a simple pony tail. Satisfied with what she saw, Bella went downstairs, grabbed her books, a pop tart for the road and her keys. Walking out to her car she was surprised by how warm it felt to her. Well, warm wasn't the best word, it was more like un-cold. She shuttered at the thought that she was getting used to the extreme temperatures in southern Washington as she started the ancient truck that her father had given her upon her arrival a few weeks back. It seemed brighter today, maybe there was a chance of some sun later on. The thought made her hopeful. She needed some extra hope today.

On the way to school she thought back on everything that had happened since she made the decision to move in with her estranged father. It certainly was not that all of her days at Forks High had been boring. She had her fair share of drama in the short time she had been there. She was treated like a celebrity at first, which really isn't that surprising given the fact that her father was the police chief for the tiny town and her decision to move in with him had remained a mystery. New people always cause a stir in small towns; she should have been expecting it. Still, that didn't keep it from being annoying. All she wanted was to sit quietly in a corner unnoticed for the next year and a half until she could graduate and go to college, preferably somewhere on the east coast away from both her parents. It's not that she didn't like the new friends she had made, she just wished they weren't so high profile in the microscopic social circles of teenage Forks.

And then there was the other incident, the one where she had almost died. It was the morning of the first snowfall of the season and the parking lot was a wreck. Students and teachers alike were sliding all over the place and her friend Tyler was no different. But whereas everyone else had slowed down coming down the driveway that morning, Tyler had not. The consequence was his not being able to even slide to a stop. He had almost hit her, almost killed her, would definitely have killed her... if it hadn't been for that boy.

Bella cursed herself for thinking of him again. She kept telling herself that his several weeks of silence meant he was not interested in speaking to her ever again. She needed to get over this obsession but she just couldn't, not when he was there every single day sitting next to her in biology. She often found herself thinking about him and trying to resist the urge to stare at him. In the cafeteria she usually allowed herself to glance his way, because he and his siblings never looked hers, but she did not dare to speak or look at him in class. He had made that perfectly clear.

For the millionth time, she played over the events of that fateful morning in her head. She got out of her truck and had just noticed that Charlie must have put snow chains on before he left in the morning. The thought had touched her heart. She looked up to see Edward Cullen standing next to his silver Volvo across the parking lot before her attention was diverted to the van that was sliding towards her at alarming speed. What happened next was still blurry, but when everything stopped she was being cradled by Edward with barely a scratch on her.

She still got angry think of how he had treated her that day. He insisted on denying that he had been on the other side of the parking lot where she clearly remembered seeing him. He insisted on making a big deal of sending her to the hospital when she knew she was fine. He insisted on belittling her intelligence by trying to insist that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Then, after all this, when she returned to school and sat next to him in 6th period biology, he had completely ignored her. Before that they had been on speaking terms but since that morning they had not said one word to each other.

That's why she needed to get him out of her head, because she obviously wasn't in his. At least, that's what she had thought until yesterday.

Yesterday was quite possibly one of the worst days of her life thus far. It started that morning, when Jessica was inexplicably cold to her. She suspected it had something to do with Mike. Jessica was supposed to ask Mike to the girl's choice dance today and, judging from her mood, she had done so to little success. Lunch was awkward, but given what happened next the morning was definitely the highlight of the day.

It started with Mike telling her that he hadn't accepted Jessica's offer because he was hoping that she would want to go with him instead. Bella thought that she would never understand this kid's obsession with her since she made constant efforts to discourage him. After telling that she couldn't because of a pre-planned trip to Seattle, she was able to convince him to accept Jessica's offer thus helping her friend and engaging Mike's attentions elsewhere for awhile. He went away and she thought that was it, until she looked to her right and saw Edward Cullen, the boy who saved her life then ignored her for nearly a month, staring at her.

Biology was awful. She spent the entire class trying to figure out why he had suddenly decided to pay attention to her until it got even worse. On her way out the door, he stopped to talk to her. She remembered her angry response. What are you speaking to me again? He then told her that he was not speaking to her again, that it was better that way and then she had accused him of regretting his decision to save her life. She regretted those words, they had obviously hurt him, but that didn't clear up her confusion as to why he was acting that way.

As if that wasn't enough, Eric stopped her on her way out the door and he too asked her to the dance. Giving him the same response as Mike, she declined and Bella had escaped to her truck hoping to be home as soon as possible. But then something even stranger happened. Edward, of all people, had blocked traffic in the parking lot which gave Tyler, still upset about almost killing her with his car, the opportunity to approach her and ask her to the dance himself. Getting angrier by the second, she told him the same thing she told his friends and started revving her truck to try and get traffic moving. She caught Edward looking at her in his rear view mirror and she would have sworn he was laughing at her.

What did he mean by all this? She rarely slept soundly but last night she was in rare form as she tossed and turned trying to figure out what he was up to and why he acted so strangely. She didn't like being this obsessed with one person who paid little or no attention to her, but then again, she had never met someone whose actions remained a complete mystery like his did.

As she pulled into the parking lot she tried to not look for his car. Like every morning, her eye wandered and she saw it. His sister was standing there, the one with the short, choppy hair, but he was nowhere to be seen. Bella couldn't tell what the strange little girl was looking at. It was in her general direction but she wasn't looking at her. Strange family, she thought. As Bella made her way to the building, the sister, Alice, she remembered, walked inside as well.

Once inside, Bella couldn't shake the feeling that she was being followed by the little pixie Cullen. She never remembered running into her much before this, but she saw her everywhere in the hall today. After first period, in front of her going down the hall, waiting in line at the bathroom... At lunch, she was right behind her in line. They never made conversation, or even eye contact but Bella had the distinct feeling that Alice was just as aware of her presence as she was of Alice's.

When she sat down at her table, the mood was happy. The girls were excited about the dance and Mike and Tyler had moved on to being excited about the dates they did have rather than depressed about the one they didn't. That was a very good thing, Bella thought. The entire school must have been excited because the noise in the cafeteria was louder than usual. The buzz was useful, though. Nobody noticed that she was spending most of lunch caught up in her own thoughts.

Alice confused her. Bella thought herself to be pretty perceptive and, given the Cullen's history of strange behavior, she didn't think it was just a coincidence. She allowed herself a glance at the table where Alice and Edward sat with the rest of their family. Everything seemed normal. Then again, it usually did with this family. Everyone else thought them a little aloof, but nobody thought anything out of the ordinary was going on. It seemed that only Bella spent hours and hours obsessing over what their thoughts and actions meant.

Today was no different. She had tried to pay attention in class, but she was also replaying her conversation with Edward over and over in her mind, trying to figure out what it meant. At lunch, she tried to figure out exactly what it could possibly have to do with his sister's following her around all day. Try as she could, nothing came up and Bella was left to determine that it was her obsession with the brother that made her pay more attention to the sister. That had to be the only reason.

Angela came up to her as they walked to return their lunch trays.

"Is everything alright Bella?"

"Yeah, I guess." She really couldn't bring herself to say more.

"Okay, you just seemed kind of distant today, that's all. Are you sad because you can't go to the dance on Saturday? Maybe you can reschedule your trip and go with the group of us."

"Angela," Bella smiled, "I am definitely not upset about not going to the dance."

Angela seemed to understand this perfectly and smiled back. "Well have a good rest of the day. I'll see you later!"

"See ya."

If Bella seemed distant it was because of what she faced next. Biology. That meant sitting next to Edward Cullen for an entire class period. She could only guess which of his bi-polar personalities she would be greeted with today.

Usually she walked to this class with Mike, but he had decided to walk Jessica to her next class before running back to Biology. Bella had never been happier to be rid of him. She reached the door and took a deep breath as she walked in. He was already there, of course, sitting at their table. She was determined not to look at or speak to him unless he did it first.

As she approached the table he turned towards her, almost as if he had been waiting for her. The look in his eyes was something she could not comprehend. He was anxious, that was certain, but there was something else, almost anger but not quite. She was shocked, even more by what happened next.

"Hello Bella, how are you feeling today?" She could see the nervousness in his amber eyes and hear it in his words. This was a personality she had not met yet.

"Be careful Edward, that sounds like a question a friend would ask. I've been told that it's better we're not friends." She really was tired of being jerked around.

He seemed to be struggling to decide what to say next. "Bella," he breathed in a cringed, "I would like to apologize to you for being so rude lately. It was inexcusable and... and I have decided that ... Bella I would very much like to be your friend and as such I would like to know how you are feeling today."

He seemed very determined and she couldn't make him out at all. "Is this some kind of joke?" She was whispering now, trying to keep quiet and keep from attracting attention with her anger. "Let's review our history together. You save my life by popping out of thin air, promise me an explanation, refuse to explain, ignore me for a month and the try to talk to me only to tell me that you're not talking to me because it's better if we're not friends. Now you tell me you have changed you mind and you want to be friends and you expect me to just up and have a friendly chat about how I have an ache in my shoulder because I didn't sleep well last night but other than that everything is fine and dandy? Come on, Edward, what the hell is going on?"

He looked even more disturbed after she finished her rant. For awhile he didn't know what to say. Then he looked at her again. "Bella, I have never been very good at making friends, my brothers and sisters keep me busy enough, which is why I have never really gone to the bother of trying to meet people outside of my family. I apologize if I am not doing a very good job at it, but I like talking to you and I am truly concerned with how you are feeling."

She was floored. He seemed entirely sincere, even if his fixation on how she was feeling today was a little weird. She tried to remind herself that being in an adopted family was probably rough and that he probably was just a little socially awkward. The thought softened her.

"I'm fine," she said, "other than that ache in my shoulder."

"Is it a muscle ache or a burning ache?"

"Um," she was confused, "a regular 'I slept funny and now my shoulder aches' ache I guess."

He seemed relieved by this, a strange reaction. "And you said that was because you didn't sleep well?"

"Yes." This conversation was going to be more work than she had anticipated. "Why do you ask?"

"You just seem..." He was searching for words. "tired, I guess. Are you jittery or hypersensitive?"

The questions got stranger and stranger. "Not really, not more than usual I suppose."

"I was just wondering. I get that way when I'm tired." He trailed off.

Saved by Mr. Banner. The Biology lecture began and ended their conversation. Bella was left to her own thoughts again, trying to decipher his meaning in asking such unusual questions. Why on earth had he been so concerned about her shoulder, about her health in general? He seemed to be anticipating that there was something wrong with her, like he expected it but her answers had thrown him a little bit. She made a mental note to check herself in a mirror. Angela had thought something was wrong too, she must look a wreck today.

Yet still, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something out of the ordinary going on with the sometimes silent, sometimes stunning boy sitting next to her. He kept looking her way, as if he were monitoring her 'tiredness' all throughout the class. She almost loathed the end of the period for fear that he might want to strike up their conversation again.

That fear was unfounded. When the bell rang, Edward simply turned to her, said he hoped she felt better and walked out of the room. Baffled, she followed shortly after him. On her way to her next class, she saw him standing with his sister Alice near the doors to the Gym, where Bella was headed for class. They both looked her direction for a second and then continued their conversation walking down the hall.

Something was definitely up and Bella was determined to figure it out. As she walked into the Gym thoughts of the Cullens were swirling around in her head.