He knew she was coming. It was one of the benefits of having a psychic for a sister. Alice had clearly had been vague on purpose when describing the new student. It was made obvious by her loud singing of "Jingle Bells" inside her head. Still, Alice's parting words had confused him.

"Behave yourself." she had said with a smirk. He knew Alice's vision had more to it than just the physical description and basic background information that everyone in school knew already. So far he knew that her her name was Isabella Swan and she was the daughter of the chief of police, Charlie Swan. Edward had seen her through other students' thoughts and found her unremarkable, but even he couldn't deny the way her confidence affected the other students. Several of the more popular girls spoke rudely of her when they thought she wasn't looking. Most of the boys had some inappropriate thoughts that Edward tried his best to block out. Seeing the new girl morphed into a porn star was not something he was incredibly interested in.

He mindlessly wandered into his biology class, only to see the new girl, Isabella, seated at his table. He was well aware that his table was the only one with an open seat. It had been left open at the beginning of the school year for a few reasons. Edward did not work well with others. He found most of his fellow students obnoxious, as well as shallow. That in itself was not a problem, but his inability to conceal it was. And he was a vampire. Not feeling any kind of body heat from your science partner was apparently disconcerting.

Without realizing, he found that he had stopped just a few feet from the table. The only way to his seat near the window was to slide behind her stool. He was apprehensive about getting too close to her. He hadn't fed the way he should have and that caused a bit of burning in his throat.

She lifted her head from the shabby paperback she was reading and made eye contact with him. She smiled slightly then returned to her book.

How odd. He thought.Eye contact without fear was something Edward was not used to.

Her light brown hair settled around her shoulders in soft waves and fell forward around her face as she read. Her skin was pale but she appeared to be healthy. One of her slightly battered sneakers were propped up on the bottom of the bench, the other foot hung freely.

Shaking his head clear of the odd apprehension he felt, he confidently strode up and slid behind her to reach his seat. She didn't even flinch. He sat down and tried to ignore the burning in his throat. It was stronger than normal, but he fought to keep himself under control. Then she shifted in her seat, smoothing her hair back into a low ponytail. The movement caused a heavenly scent to waft his way. His body tensed and he could feel his hands' death grip on the edge of the stool. He heard the splintering of the wood and tried to loosen his grip.

Fuck, shit, god fucking damn. He closed his eyes and stopped his breathing. He tried to scoot away from her without appearing rude, but his desire not to consume her blood was the first priority. She shot him a look of absolute annoyance as she leaned over and slid her book into her bag and grabbed her notebook and a pencil. He could have sworn she actually rolled her eyes at him.

If she only knew what I could do to her, right here. Before she even knew what was happening, I could drain every single ounce of her blood. And I would enjoy it.

The rest of the class filed in, prattling on and on about the new girl and how it was so sad that she got stuck with Cullen as a lab partner. Edward rolled his eyes and turned his head to blow out the air he had been holding. With the other students in the room, he quickly felt better. He could barely smell her blood if he didn't breathe in and was able to somewhat concentrate on the class, not that he really needed to. She was quickly scribbling down notes and intermittently looking at him curiously. The annoyance had melted away from her features, and now it seemed like she was trying to make sense of him.

It was then, in the middle of the lecture that he realized something. He had no idea what she was thinking. Everyone else in the room was clear as day. But when he focused on her, he got nothing but silence. Then he made the mistake of inhaling. Fuck fuck fuck. He tensed up again and tried to focus on not disappointing Carlisle. The rest of the class passed painfully slow. He probably raced out of the class a little faster than he should have, but he needed fresh air and a fresh perspective.

xxx

"Carlisle I don't understand it. Her blood smelled like nothing I had ever smelled before and I couldn't hear anything."

"What do you mean that you couldn't hear anything?" Carlisle was intrigued. Exceptions to our gifts always interested him.

"I mean there was nothing. I could hear everyone else in the room, clear as day. Then I would focus on her and all I got was silence. It was weird. I've never encountered anything like it." I heard Carlisle working through theories in his head. Then he voiced the predominant theory.

"Maybe you were blinded by the blood lust. Maybe you thought you were really focusing, but you weren't really. Maybe she is like Chief Swan. You never were able to get a clear read on his mind either."

"But, I can get the basic gist of his thoughts. It's staticy but there is something there. It was clear she was thinking, but I couldn't get a read on her at all."

"Well, how about you leave for a few days. Go hunting. Take on of your brothers with you. Take time to clear your head. It will all work out, son." With that, he left the room and headed out to the garden where Esme was working.

Edward heard his busted up van pull up outside and his brothers and sisters exit the vehicle. In his rush to escape Forks High School, he had simply ran home. He figured that Alice and Rose weren't dressed to run and would be upset if he took his car home. Then he remembered something important.

"ALICE!" he yelled as he barreled down the stairs.

"What?" she asked with a smirk.

"Don't play coy with me!" he was getting angry. Red tinged the frame of his vision.

"Yeah, I knew you were going to be angry. But I couldn't tell you. Telling you had worse repercussions than not telling you," she shifted uncomfortably. She dropped her bag in the hallway and headed towards the kitchen.

"What are you talking about Alice?" he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers as he followed her. He felt the others disperse throughout the house, leaving him and Alice alone in the living room. Not complete privacy, but as close as they were going to get.

"I saw her coming. And I saw how she would affect you. And how you would effect her."

"And warning me was worse than letting me walk obliviously into a dangerous situation?" Sometimes Alice's logic eluded him. Actually, it happened quite frequently. He could see her trying to limit the amount of information she revealed from her vision. At certain points she started reciting various religious texts in difficult languages.

"Yes. It was. You know my visions have gotten clearer over the past couple years. I can see more and understand more. Please just trust me when I say this is for the best, Edward." she placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "She's different. Unfortunately, how she is different isn't very clear to me right now, but I promise. This is for the best. I can feel it."

It was difficult for Edward to remain angry at Alice for an extended period of time. She hugged him tightly around the waist and he returned the gesture. She pulled out of the embrace and looked him square in the eye.

"Plus, do you think that I would have let you walk into a room full of humans if I thought you were going to slaughter them all? Are you insane?"