Stephenie Meyer Owns Everything. I'm just a girl who loves her literary escapisms.

Chapter 2: Open Book

My first day back at the high school was… anxiety filled. I was continually prepping myself. Preparing to meet my personal demon head on. The idea that a plain, weak, human girl could chase me away from my family was a shameful one. But it seemed silly now, now that I had been away from her for so long. I pulled into the parking lot, after having made sure that I was well fed. I didn't want to be hungry when she hit me with her irresistible scent. I spent my day concentrating on her. Both on my seemingly futile attempt to read her mind, and on what I was going to do, to say. I was going to nip this issue in the bud. I had to clean up what had happened the last time she saw me. Remove all trace of that monster from her memory.

I walked out the door of my classroom and turned to the cafeteria out of habit. A large ball of wet hit me square in the face.

Dude! You're such an easy target! Emmett was laughing from about ten feet away, taking joy in my obvious distraction.

That's right, keep focusing on Edward… Jasper launched another snowball before Emmett knew what was happening.

"Could you guys try to act a little more your age?" Rosalie was standing a safe distance away from Emmett, compact mirror in hand.

Another one hit me from behind. I swirled around with a snowball of my own to see Alice standing in a crowd of people.

Oh no you don't! She defended when she saw me eyeing her. That was Jazz, not me! She ducked away and headed for the cafeteria. I searched the thoughts of the witnesses and quickly found the true culprit laughing with Emmett by a classroom. I tossed two of my own at them before ducking into the safety of the cafeteria myself. From their raging thoughts, I could tell I had hit my marks with precision.

They followed me to the lunch line to gather the food we wouldn't eat.

You're lucky we're in public. Emmett's mind growled. Just wait till we get home… He started strategizing his attacks. Rosalie and Alice were already at the table, but keeping their distance from us. Emmett was determined to get as much snow on Rosalie as possible, but she wouldn't have it.

Jessica Stanley's thoughts called out my name. Instinctually, I looked over. A pair of large brown eyes met mine for a second before she ducked and shook her hair into her face. Now that she had pulled my attention, she kept it. I was sure that there was some way to break through and hear her thoughts.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," Jessica was elated by this fact.

Maybe if he's watching her, he'll see me. She thought hopefully.

"He doesn't look angry, does he?" Bella kept her eyes down.

"No, should he be?" What did you this soon, ask him out or something? Jessica wondered.

"I don't think he likes me," It would explain my atrocious appearance the last time she had seen me. She put her head down on her arm, concealing it from view further. I must have looked like the devil to her, because she smelled like heaven to me. A hot thirst was gripping my throat just thinking about her scent.

"The Cullens don't like anybody… well, they don't notice anybody enough to like them. But he's still staring at you." That's a plus? Right? I'd kill to have him look at me like that.

I soon became disappointed. Jessica's thoughts were impeccably easy to hear, but nothing came from the brunette across the table from her. It was as if no one was there.

"Stop looking at him," Bella hissed. Jessica complied, and turned her head away from me with a smile. She was rationalizing in her mind that since I was looking in their direction, I would be forced to notice her.

Their conversation ended abruptly with Mike Newton making plans for a snowball fight after school. Bella kept her eyes on the table the whole time and hardly moved and inch. Through the whole conversation, I had gleaned nothing from her mind. It was like trying to talk to a photograph, just, nothing.

I was starting to have my doubts about whether or not I was so ready to come face to face with her again. I could feel her pull from across the room. The need to be close to her overwhelmed me. I reveled in the thought of how easy it would be to get her alone, I wanted to be closer to her neck, and to the blood flowing easily through it. Her skin looked so soft and delicate. It would only take a moment, and the scent would become a reality.

You'll do fine. Alice thought at me, having seen my efforts to get Bella alone in a vision. I gave her a skeptical look, pulling away from the sight of Bella's head on the table. If I have any doubts, I'll send Emmett and Jasper after you. She promised. I looked up at the clock and then down at my tray. Okay.

Eventually the bell rang and interrupted my attempt to read Bella's mind. If I was going to get into her head, I was going to have to do it the human way.

I had to time my entrance into the Biology room precisely. I wanted to make sure that she was safely in her seat before I came in. That way I wouldn't have to deal with the breeze created when she walked through the airstream from the vent.

I peeked in the room through the various minds of the students in the classroom. Bella was seated next to my empty seat, and Mr. Banner was walking around the room placing microscopes on each table. As I made my approach, I noted that Bella was drawing something on her notebook. I pushed my chair as far away as the table would allow before sitting in it. Her scent was more powerful than I remembered. I swallowed back venom as I prepared to speak to without pouncing on her.

"Hello," I did my best to sound friendly even as I thought of killing her. Her already wide eyes seemed to get larger as she looked me over. She didn't say anything. I was going to have to start.

"My name is Edward Cullen, I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week." I tried to sound friendly. "You must be Bella Swan."

She seemed confused by my speaking to her, and after my behavior, I couldn't blame her.

"H-how do you know my name?" she asked nervously

"Oh, I think everyone knows your name. The whole town's been waiting for you to arrive." The perk of being the daughter of the police chief, a police chief that would be unhappy if his daughter failed to return home from school. I reminded myself.

"No," she corrected "I meant, why did you call me Bella?" I had called her Bella because the thoughts of everyone around her called her Bella. She had already caught me, I had to come up with an answer for her fast.

"Do you prefer Isabella?" I asked quickly.

"No, I like Bella," she replied "But I think Charlie – I mean my dad – " she stuttered over what to call him. "must call me Isabella behind my back – that's what everyone here seems to know me as," she explained. I wondered briefly why she would use his first name rather than the term 'dad' that seemed to be standard.

"Oh." Was all I could think of to say. She looked away, stealing my only insight into her psyche.

I was ashamed of how crippled I was without my talent. I had never thought that I relied on it this much, but now that I didn't have it, I could see where I was wrong. Now that she was turned away, I couldn't even read her facial features.

Bella seemed relieved when Mr. Banner started class. We were doing a routine lab where we identified the phases of mitosis using onion root cells. It felt like I'd done this lab with every plant under the sun in my years of schooling.

At least it was a partner lab. I took solace in the fact that she was going to have to talk to me whether she wanted to or not.

"Ladies first, partner?" I asked, again in my most friendly, non-monster tone. She stared at me blankly.

"Or I could start, if you wish." I wondered if she had been paying attention to the directions and just didn't want to go first.

"No," rose filled her cheeks as blood flowed through her delicate neck to her face, venom filled my mouth again. "I'll go ahead."

She used the microscope with confidence. It didn't take me long to realize that she had no doubt done this lab before, if not as many times as I had.

"Prophase." She declared after looking into the lens for a moment. She started pulling the slide out when I stopped her. I knew that Mr. Banner was just looking for anything he could to mark me down in his class. It was vain and I knew it, but I wasn't going to let anything between me and my perfect grade in his class.

"Do you mind if I look?" I asked as I caught her hand and the slide. The warmth radiating from her hand was unmistakable, but something else had sparked. Like a shock from a door handle. She pulled her hand back instantly but it was too late, the thought of grabbing her came back. How easy it would be to sink my teeth into her delicate throat, so fast we wouldn't be noticed until it was over…

"I'm sorry," I muttered. I'm sorry I shocked you, I'm sorry have ungodly cold hands, I'm sorry I'm a monster, and most of all, I'm sorry I can't stop thinking about killing you.

It only took me a second of looking in the microscope to agree with her decision.

"Prophase," I agreed as I wrote it down on the worksheet. I quickly had the slides switched and the next one identified.

"Anaphase," I wrote it quickly and was about to pull the slide out when she stopped me.

"May I?" she seemed to be challenging me, but was immediately disappointed.

"Slide three?"

I handed her the slide, but was careful this time not to let her skin touch mine as it had before. I was intensely aware of how close together we were as we stood over the microscope. Heat rolled off of her like the sun.

We had the lab finished long before any of the other groups, which left nothing to do but settle down and try to read Bella's thoughts. She was avoiding me by watching some of the other groups work. She couldn't look away forever, our eyes met again.

"Did you get contacts?" she asked suddenly.

"No." I answered quickly and firmly so that there could be no doubt.

"Oh, I thought there was something different about your eyes." She seemed embarrassed again. I shrugged and tried to seem uninterested in the conversation. I knew she was referring to the color change in my eyes what happened over time when we fed. They were darker the last time she had seen me because it had been longer since I had fed then. Now they were no doubt some lighter gold color.

The blush that filled her cheeks sent a new wave of thirst through me. I balled my fingers into fists to avoid the urge to pull her to me. Everything seemed to make her that deep, seductive shade of crimson.

"So, Edward, didn't you think Isabella should get a chance with the microscope?" Mr. Banner was behind us, his arrival sent of whoosh of Bella's scent towards me again.

"Bella," I corrected him before I could stop myself. "Actually, she identified three of the five." I said plainly. I was in no mood to deal with Banner's issues right now.

I focused on all of the deer I was going to hunt after I didn't kill the girl sitting next to me. I waited until he was gone and I could focus clearly enough to try talking to her again.

"It's too bad about the snow, isn't it?" Weather. The weather was always a safe topic.

"Not really," she said, her tone was amusing.

"You don't like the cold." I surmised.

"Or the wet." She added. Then why would she move to the rain capitol of the United States? I wondered.

"Forks must be a difficult place for you to live," I said. I was hoping she would explain her reasoning for moving here in the first place. She went along with my plan beautifully.

"You have no idea," she muttered. Something made me think that she wasn't just thinking of the weather in Forks when she said it, Charlie? Me?

"Why did you come here, then?" I had learned from the minds of the staff that it was some sort of custody issue, but I wanted to know her reasoning.

"It's… complicated." She said simply.

"I think I can keep up," Every fiber of my being growled at me for being rude, but I didn't want to let go of this chance because Bella may never speak to me again. She waited a moment before meeting my eyes and then suddenly admitting;

"My mother got remarried,"

"That doesn't sound so complex," No personal demon agenda then. "When did that happen?" I wanted her to keep talking.

"Last September." She sounded sad.

"And you don't like him," I wondered briefly if humans ever liked their step parents.

"No, Phil is fine." She defended "Too young, maybe, but nice enough." So if she didn't have a problem with him, why did she move to the land of wet and cold to get away from them?

"Why didn't you stay with them?" I kept waiting for one of her answers to be one that I had predicted, but no luck.

"Phil travels a lot. He plays ball for a living." She tried to smile, but it was clear she wasn't happy about anything.

"Have I heard of him?" I asked. Emmett loved baseball.

"Probably not. He doesn't play well. Strictly minor league. He moves around a lot." She seemed almost amused by this fact.

"And your mother sent you here so that she could travel with him." She was immediately put off by my assumption.

"No, she did not send me here." She said "I sent myself."

"I don't understand," I admitted. Why would she choose to be unhappy, so that somebody else could be happy? It went against most of my observations about human nature, especially teenage girl nature. She sighed, clearly annoyed by my lack of understanding.

"She stayed with me at first, but she missed him. It made her unhappy… so I decided it was time to spend some quality time with Charlie." She sounded sadder and sadder by the minute. I was starting to regret pushing the subject, but I still wanted to know more. I didn't want this short lived moment to end, for her to stop talking to me.

"But now you're unhappy,"

"And?" Her sadness was turning to frustration

"That doesn't seem fair." I still didn't understand why she would make that sacrifice. None of the girls in this school would do that. I corrected myself mentally, none of the other girls. Bella was anything but ordinary.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you? Life isn't fair."

"I believe I have heard that somewhere before," she was preaching to the 'life isn't fair' choir.

"So that's all," she said as if to sum up her life's story.

"You put on a good show, but I'd be willing to bet that you're suffering more than you let anyone see." Even without my mind reading abilities, I found that I could still read at least some of her emotions from her facial expressions. She grimaced and looked away.

"Am I wrong?" I doubted that I was. She didn't seem to enjoy being here anymore than I did. "I didn't think so."

"Why does it matter to you?" her sadness and frustration turned to irritation.

"That's a very good question," I said it more to myself than to her. Why was I spending so much time fixated on her? She was just one insignificant human girl. So what if I couldn't read her mind?

This line of thinking didn't last long.

"Am I annoying you?" I didn't understand why, but I really did feel bad for bothering her so much.

"Not exactly, I'm more annoyed at myself." I didn't understand why she would be. "My face is so easy to read – my mother always calls me her open book." She frowned.

"On the contrary, I find you very difficult to read." I said honestly.

"You must be a good reader then," she complimented me.

"Usually." I couldn't keep the smugness out of my expression.

Mr. Banner brought the class back to attention and took the rest of the class to go on about mitosis. Bella seemed to be paying intense attention to him as I tried once again to read her.

When the bell rang, I bolted from my seat. I didn't want her walking past that vent again, and I was in a hurry to get out into the fresh, un-Bella tainted air. I spent the last class of the day going over our conversation again and again. Her answers seemed human and plain enough. No reason to assume she was my personal demon. Unless demons came from Arizona.

I waited for the others by my car and watched Bella climb into the ancient monstrosity that was her truck. When she saw me watching her, she seemed to find a hurry to leave, and almost hit another car in her rush to get out of the parking lot. I chuckled at her clumsiness.

This isn't healthy you know. Rosalie was getting into the car, but they had obviously caught me watching Bella again. Obsessing over that human is going to do you no good.

I tried to drown them out as I got into the car.

Sure, she's cute, but I don't see why you're so taken with her, she's certainly not one of us. Emmett's mind wasn't helping me blot thoughts of Bella from my mind. I still didn't see why she occupied so many of my thoughts.

I drove home slowly, well, slowly for a vampire. We were home in about ten minutes. I pulled straight into the garage and sprinted for the door.

I turned my stereo up high and lay on the sofa as the base beats pumped through me. Bella had proven herself to be nothing more that a regular human girl, but she had also proven to be more. She was wise beyond her years, and showed a sense of compassion that wasn't typical in her generation. There was still her scent to be reckoned with. Nothing I had ever encountered had ever been as strong or as enticing as she was. Everything about her pulled me to her. From her scent, to her warmth.

I reminded myself that I had made it through a whole class with her and hadn't exposed myself or my family. It had to get easier, right?

I heard Jasper's concerns about my mental state rising from the floor below. He was considering coming up to ask me about it. I really hoped he wouldn't. I walked slowly past my wall of CD's until I came to what I was looking for; Muse. I focused on the beat of the music. Identifying each sound from each instrument while pulling the lyrics out from the rest. This was to take my mind off of what was currently plaguing it.

My thoughts eventually made it back to Bella, and by the morning I had made up my mind that she was just a human girl, and nothing more. All I would have to do was stay as far away from her as possible, and take it a day at a time. Her scent wouldn't bother me, and neither would she.

I hope you enjoyed. I have more.