A/N:
All the characters in this story belong to Stephenie Meyer.
I am in the process of going back in my earlier chapters and editing them to fit my writing style now. There was a lot of difference in the way I wrote when I first started this story a few years ago and now. I plan on keeping the same story! I hope you enjoy my story!
Chapter 1: The New Kid
I sighed and squirmed in my seat as I retracted my mind shield. I had been stretching it to include the entire school building, and challenging myself by shielding everyone but certain people. I'm sure Alice had figured out what I was doing, and was frustrated at me. Her wrath would come down on my during lunch period I guessed. I was wrong; it was earlier.
"Bella, you shouldn't mess with me that way, I don't want to freak out Mr. Banner again." Alice shook her tiny head with a crinkle in her brow. "When Jasper's future disappeared I almost jumped up in the middle of class! Then it snapped back and I realized what you were doing."
I tried to look at her with a genuine looking apology in my eyes. She rolled her eyes though, so I know it didn't work. Oh well, I was only humoring her.
"Bella, there's a new kid in your biology class today." Her eyes fluttered and went unfocused just as Jasper walked up. "Hmm, his future is full of static, poor guy. He must just be having a bad day." She dismissed her worries with a flutter of her slender hand as she linked arms dramatically with Jasper.
Rose and Emmett walked past on their way to their Advanced Calculus class and Emmett snickered, saying, "I feel like he won't be having such a bad day when he meets Isabella Cullen. That poor boy…"
I shot him a glare as I shut my locker door carefully. My glare soon faded to a worried crease in my forehead as I walked down the hallway to the longest class of the day. Mr. Banner was known to have a severe crush on all the Cullen girls, especially me. He tended to favor me, not that I needed it. It got a bit trying though, when he tried to look down my shirt as he walked past me to set papers down on the table. Usually I covered up with longer shirts with no plunging necklines, and went out of my way to prevent the opportunity to sneak a peek. Everyone in my family was in agreement that it was an invasion of personal space; in fact, Carlisle had been so upset that he almost got him fired just to make me feel safer. No human could ever hurt me, but it was the thought that counted.
I pulled my jeans higher up on my hips and made sure every inch of me was covered before I squared my shoulders and walked in the biology classroom with a sigh. A quick scan of the room revealed that the new kid had taken the empty seat next to me. As I scrutinized him, his face slowly turned crimson, despite the fact that his head was bowed down, doodling on his notebook. I saw him peek at me from the corner of his eyes, and his face flushed again. I also realized my face was in a slightly hostile expression, so I quickly rearranged it into what I thought was a friendly smile. At least he couldn't be any worse than Mr. Banner's staring.
His smell was incredible, but amazingly, it didn't make my throat burn very much. I was curious about the new boy, so I turned with a little flirtatious smile and introduced myself.
"Hi, I'm Isabella Cullen. But please, call me Bella."
"I'm Edward Masen. I guess you know I'm the new kid here…" I could see the nervousness in his eyes and I couldn't help but wonder if it was because of me or if it was from being in an unfamiliar place.
I smiled encouragingly and told him, "It's nice to meet you, Edward."
I couldn't help but wonder if Edward was immune to my vampire beauty. Every other male in this school was easily affected by me when I turned on my feminine charms. My family teased me about my amazing puppy dog eyes, and I used them now on Edward. I looked down at the table shyly and peeked up under my eyelashes, unleashing my golden eyes on him. I could hear see his face turning red and his heart started beating faster. I gave him a flirty smile that he returned, yet there was a distance like he was trying to control himself and keep his gentlemanly stature.
I reached over and touched his hand that rested on the table. To my complete astonishment he patted it once and pulled his hand back and the reason returned completely to his face. I wondered idly if he had a girlfriend that he was resisting me. I furrowed the cute little line in my brow and turned my face to make him think I was blushing. Several minutes later, my "composure returned" and I looked back to him. The episode appeared to have floated out of his head and out the doorway. I hated to admit it, but this human man was driving me insane.
Luckily the bell for class to begin rang and I was able to clear my head a bit. Mr. Banner called on Edward twice, both times he answered correctly. Mr. Banner skipped over me in the classroom quiz questions, and I'm pretty sure that he winked at me when I looked up in surprise. Edward snorted, and I shot a warning look to him. I widened my eyes, silently imploring to let it be. He shouldn't have to bear the wrath of Mr. Banner for the rest of the term already, it was only his first day! He grinned and raised his hand as Mike Newton finished answering a question.
Mr. Banner's forehead furrowed as he tried to figure out why Edward was raising his hand. "Yes, Mr. Masen?"
Edward was a good actor; his face was the picture of innocence as he started speaking. "Mr. Banner, I think you skipped Isabella." I sighed in my head as he used my full name. "It isn't fair for her, I'm sure she would love to."
Mr. Banner blinked for several seconds, irritation shadowed his face while he thought. He stood clenching and unclenching his jaw muscle, debating what to do. I could practically hear his internal reprimand of Edward. I could just imagine what he wanted to say to him, and I felt an odd urge to throw him through the wall into the next room for thinking such awful things. I could tell he felt like a dog, he needed to mark his territory. Starting to get freaked out and worried for Edward, I decided to end it all.
This situation couldn't possibly get any worse, so I decided to push Mr. Banner a little bit further in the hopes of putting his advances to a stop. I scooted closer to Edward and leaned on his arm, my hand landing on his knee. The heat radiating from his chest floored me, I barely kept my composure. His heart radiated heat from all directions, and I wondered how I hadn't felt it from my seat only a foot away. I gave him a pointed glare that said "You got me into this mess, you're getting me out."
I sighed and leaned more weight onto him, wrapping my other arm around his back and pouted a little, for the "in lust" look to be complete. "No, it's fine, Eddie. Mr. Banner knows what he's doing. He is the teacher after all." Edward flinched when I called him Eddie. Serves him right for getting me into this mess.
Mr. Banner's mouth hung open in astonishment, and I almost laughed when his eyes inched down to where my hand sat perched on Edward's knee. His eyes came up next, to where my mouth was only 3 inches away from Edward's. Edward looked down, accidentally closing more of the space. His fair skin slowly turned to a light pink, and I held my breath, afraid that I would go crazy from the smell that accompanied that blush.
"Ms. Swan! You may answer the question from the top of page 85!"
Mr. Banner's face turned a purple tint that would have been a pretty color if it were anywhere else and his voice sounded borderline hysterical.
As soon as I answered the question (correctly) the bell rang. Students started to gather papers and stack books, eager to get to lunch. Mr. Banner was sitting at his desk, fuming silently. He sat back in his chair and looked in my direction. "Ms. Swan, please stay after class."
Oh shit! Maybe I went too far, too much in one day?
I quickly turned to Edward and muttered out of the side of my mouth, "Wait for me outside." What was I doing…?
The classroom cleared and I shuffled up to Mr. Banner's desk, pulling up the waist of my pants as I walked. Mr. Banner was shuffling some papers around, pretending to be doing something. He pushed his thick glasses back up the bridge of his nose as he glanced up at me.
"Isabella, I realize that people grow up, mature and such. You need to be careful about who you choose to incorporate into your life. There are going to be people that are bad influences, like Mr. Masen for example. I hope you'll take my advice to heart."
It was almost as if by cue that he glanced at my chest when he said the word heart. I was spitting mad for two reasons, and considered once again throwing him through the wall. Instead I smiled and thanked him before I turned on my heel and stalked out the door. As I neared the door he said, "Be wise with your choices, Ms. Cullen."
I almost ran through the door, and skidded around the corner. Edward was leaning against the wall, smiling. My heart about jumped through my throat, until I realized that I didn't have a beating one.
"I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with my friends and me today. You at least can get to know a few other people."
I corrected myself in my mind; the people I was introducing him to were actually vampires.
I could practically hear the relief in his voice when he answered, "That sounds great, thank you."
"Ok, let's go. I'll introduce you to my friends… Err, heads up, they're kind of... interesting"
We walked into the cafeteria, and I stood for a moment, surveying the room. Alice was looking straight at me with a twinkle in her eye, yet Jasper was nowhere to be seen. I cocked my eyebrow at her in question, and she nodded her head to Edward. Of course, Jasper wouldn't be able to stand a human being that close, he hadn't hunted in just over 2 weeks.
I turned back to the tray line, grabbing one and filling it with random food. Edward did the same and followed me. I slowed down and whispered to him, "Ok, so the tiny black haired girl is my youngest sister, Alice. The gorgeous blonde girl sitting next to her is my oldest sister, Rosalie. The, um, really, really buff guy is my oldest brother, Emmett. Ok, Emmett and Rosalie are together, and Alice and Jasper are too. You won't meet Jasper today. And don't worry, we're not incestuous. Rosalie and Jasper are biological siblings and the rest of us are biologically related. We were all adopted by Carlisle and Esme Cullen." Edward's mouth had opened, but closed with my explanation.
We walked up to the table, setting our trays down and pulling chairs up to sit on. I looked up, and remembered that although Alice had filled in everyone about Edward, he didn't know anything about them, so I introduced them.
"Guys, this is Edward. Edward, this is Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett." I pointed each one out in turn while he politely nodded and shook Emmett's hand.
Emmett's face stretched into a wide grin.
"Hello, Edward."
