Twiversed

Summary: How much more different would Twilight be if the situation was reversed? What would have happened if Edward had been human and Bella was the vampire? Well, Edward Masen has it all: looks, money and brains. And yet, this Adonis keeps to himself and doesn't date. Why? Well, how much fun does dating sound to you if you can read the minds of everybody around you? Until the mysterious Cullen family moves to Forks and Edward gets nothing but mental silence from the beautiful Bella.

A/N Okay, I don't know what has gotten into me. I have already two stories running and it's hard enough to keep up with them as is, but well, I had this strike of inspiration and it seemed too good to let go… So, I decided to start with one chapter and see how people respond to it. If many people are interested, I will continue the story. If not, well, I am gonna put it on hold or delete it all together. So, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Just be sure to give me the heads up if you think this idea is too good to waste ;-)

Chapter 1: The hell-hounds of High School

How I dreaded the purgatory that people around here liked to call High School. Most people would already agree it earns that title, just because of all the boring lectures you have to attend. But, well, in my case there was a bit more to it. If you thought lectures were a pain, try hearing the said lecture in tenfold. Or hearing how bored and impatient the teachers actually are with you. Yeah, I was a telepath, and as much fun as that seemed, believe me, it's not. A royal pain in the ass -or mind in this case- was a more accurate description. Oh, what I wouldn't give for the ability to switch it off! My heritage, my looks, name your prize, I was pretty sure it wouldn't be too high to pay.

Yeah, because as if gifted in a supernatural way wasn't enough, I was also gifted in the normal human way. I had green emerald eyes that people seemed to find attractive and tousled bronze hair. My body wasn't bad either. I wasn't muscular or anything, but I was in good shape, not an ounce of fat anywhere. My family ran a jewelry business, which brings in quite a few bucks, but our wealth was a bit more than just that. I had this hunch I was not the only gifted one in the family. For all I knew one of my ancestors had the uncanny talent to predict the stock market, or the ability to turn metal into gold, which ever works best.

Not that I would ever dream about telling my parents what I could do. Yeah, this is the 21st century alright and people no longer burn witches at stakes. But face it, if I was already feeling extremely embarrassed by what I am hearing, imagine what my parents would feel like, knowing that I knew? If you heard your parents' bed room past time, you'd make sure you didn't walk in on them either, right? Well, let's just stick to saying I didn't need to do that to get the whole movie anyway. They may not be entirely aware of my special gift and I was planning on keeping it that way, but I was betting my mother sensed more than she let on to. And by sensing I meant 'sixth sense' kind of sensing, not just female intuition. No, as far as my parents were concerned, I just suffered from bad cases of head ache.

And really, I actually believed that being rich and good looking made things only worse for me. It might seem an ego-tripper's heaven, to hear people all around you thinking how gorgeous you were, but it just grossed me out to have to hear and see all their fantasies. Ever had this feeling someone undressed you with their eyes? Not fun, but imagine what it would feel like if you actually saw the mental pictures. Ew, what was I, just a mindless sex toy? And knowing that the girls only wanted to go out with you because it would make everybody look at them didn't exactly help to warm you up for them. Nor was the fact that they craved your expensive presents rather than your presence inviting.

But it wasn't all dark and doom, people's thoughts could be funny at times. Like now, the ones that Mike Newton was having, for instance. Mr. Varner had just been repeating the formula for surface and volume calculations.

"Surface of circle equals pi r square," he had recited.

Pie? I bet this one isn't as tasty as the one mom made yesterday, yummy.

I tried to muffle a snicker when I heard it. Sadly, I failed, and the teacher called upon me.

"Care to tell us what's so funny, Edward?" Mr. Varner snapped.

Yeah, Masen, what was so funny, freak? The thoughts of Tyler intruded my mind.

"I am sorry, sir, I remembered a joke," I smiled apologetically to the teacher.

I could hear his inner debate. He was outweighing my perfect grades and my usually impeccable behavior against this disturbance of his class. My reputation won.

"Alright then, Edward, but I expect you to pay attention to the lecture for the rest of this class," he said.

"Of course, sir," I replied submissively.

Bootlicker! Another one of Tyler's poisonous thoughts reached me. I sighed. The kid was clearly jealous, but I failed to see why. He got all the girls he wanted. Okay, truthfully, after I showed no interest in them. But wouldn't the outcome matter more than the motivation? Clearly these girls wouldn't be stupid enough to tell him he was their second choice, right?

The bell rang, announcing that this lesson had finally come to a close. Lunch time was up next, not that it would be so much better for me. The cafeteria would harbor more minds, almost my free ticket to head ache land. But if I ate fast enough, I could escape to my car for a while and listen to some music. Distance was the only thing that had an effect on my ability. If I would go far enough from all people, I would be able to suppress the voices completely. My car wasn't nearly far enough, but it was sufficient to make them seem like a whisper. Because of this, I had already set my mind on a future as a hermit.

When I sat foot in the cafeteria building, the latest gossip reached me from all directions. Apparently there was a new family moving to Forks this weekend. They had a bunch of teenager kids, all adopted, and they would start school on Monday. That was actually good news for a change. There seemed to be boys as well as girls, so that meant that at least for a couple of days, I would be off the female radar. And, with a little luck, off anybody's radar as they would all be too busy paying attention to the newcomers. A smile lit my features.

Oh, did I just see Edward Masen smile? Good, the boy seems so unhappy most of the time. He seems like a nice person, though, but he's always keeping to himself. Maybe he's just shy, like me. Maybe I should go talk to him some time, but I wish I would know what to say.

Ah, the sweet mental voice of Angela Weber. Her thoughts made me smile even wider. If there would be one girl in the whole school that I considered dating, it would be her. She was always so kind with her thoughts. But the girl was just so content with what she had and up until recently, she had no interest in dating at all. So I didn't want to press on, afraid of making her feel awkward. Another drawback of being in someone else's head, I supposed, I'd feel every bit of her awkwardness and probably feel guilty for it too. But I knew that she was currently having a little crush on Ben Cheney, so she was more than ever a no-go now. I guessed that may be the sole benefit of the mind-reading thing. I'd never embarrass myself by asking someone who had no interest in me at all. But between rejection and the constant stream of venomous thoughts, I'd gladly go with the first.

I grabbed myself a piece of pizza and a soda. Not that the cafeteria food around here was usually very tasty, but at least pizza was fast and easy. I took my seat at my usual spot, a small table at the far end of the room, with the sole purpose of suppressing as many mental voices as possible. Trying very hard to focus on my food and my food only, I shoved the pizza in my mouth as quickly as possible and ran for my car afterward.

It wasn't until long that Debussy's Claire de Lune filled my car and my head. Well, most of my head, anyway. Sighing, I rubbed my temple to make the upcoming head ache go away. One more afternoon, Edward, one more afternoon and it'll be weekend, I sang my mantra to myself. The weather was going to be relatively good, so I'd be able to escape to the meadow. There were times that the meadow was the only thing that kept me sane. The place was so isolated that, for once, I was able to be alone in my head. I wouldn't know how I would have survived if we were still living in Phoenix. You were never alone in a city that big.

I haven't always been a telepath, thankfully, it started kicking in with puberty. It was more subtle at first, I heard only the thoughts from people that stood close enough to me. And not even all their thoughts, back then. It sure spooked my friends out, when I started answering the questions in their head and not only the ones that were spoken out loud. Thank God I had a better grip before things got out of hand. But when it intensified, I started complaining to my parents about major head aches. That part obviously wasn't a ruse, but the part where I hinted that it seemed worse when I had been outside was. At some point I purposely wondered out loud whether it could be due to the air pollution in the big city on how it might be different in a smaller city. It didn't take my parents long to take the bait, it turned out my mother had always wanted to live more rural. But they said they stayed because of me, not wanting to tear me away from my friends and all.

So I got what I wanted and the head aches improved when we moved to Forks, although I knew it had nothing to do with the air quality. Once enrolled in the new High School, I made sure to keep to myself. Not that I didn't want friends, but until I found a way to switch this thing off, social life would have to wait. It's not that nobody tried to befriend me, hell, more like nobody didn't try; but after a few weeks, they got the message. And like I said, hearing all the ulterior motives wasn't exactly appealing, so it wasn't as hard to stick to my plan as I thought it would be. My parents knew I had no friends, but they never brought it up, so neither did I. I guess it helped that I was happier by myself.

I hoped some of my class mates would tell the newcomers I was a weirdo who was best to be avoided, it would save me the effort. But well, those were worries for later. More eminent was the bell that was currently ringing. I sighed and went back in to endure the last part of my suffering for this week.

A/N So, what do you think, worth continuing? Review and let me know, please.