(Chapter 2)

A/N: Again, this is a rewrite of the original chapter 2. Things are a little but different but not too much. Mainly, the wording is just much more pleasant to read and much less mistakes. I hope you enjoy! Thanks again to Branchirps and Sarita Dreaming for pre-read and Beta services! Any mistakes are mine alone...Twilight characters belong to Stephanie Meyer...

I was seven years old, and my mom had taken me for a walk in the woods to look at all the spring wild flowers. It was an annual tradition for us, and I looked forward to it every year. At the time, we were living in a little town in Rhode Island. The town was mostly farms and woods with plenty of trails for us to explore.

On that particular day, we were walking along when, out of nowhere it seemed, there was someone in front of us: a man with blond hair, very disheveled in appearance. My mother and I both immediately tensed up. It wasn't that unusual to run across other hikers, but this one had the strangest look on his face. It was as if he was in ecstasy. His face was tilted up, and his nostrils opened wide like he was trying to breath in every scent he could. After a moment, his face dropped down, and his eyes locked onto ours. I was horrified to see that his eyes were red—blood red—like a nightmare come to life. My mother was clearly terrified but moved to protect me by getting between me and the man. We stood there, praying he would start to move away from us…knowing he wouldn't. Then, he spoke.

"Mm-mm… Your scent is the most luscious I have ever experienced in all my time on earth."

He directed his comment to me as I was peeking out from behind my mother. His tone sounded as if he intended to compliment me. His voice was smooth, smooth in a way a snake glides across the ground. I broke out into a cold sweat and started to shake just from hearing it.

He raised his head again and took another deep breath in through his nose before continuing, "A child—you had to be a child—the one sin I have not yet committed. Lack of interest, really; humans just taste better as adults. I wonder: what will you taste like when you are older? I can't imagine anything more delicious than the blood I smell now. Absolutely amazing."

I didn't understand, was he talking about…eating me? Was he a cannibal? But how could he smell my blood? I wasn't bleeding. I knew what my blood smelled like, and it was no different than anyone else's. The odor made me sick every time I was near it.

In a flash, he was right in front of us. I hadn't even seen him move, it had been so fast. He looked normal, except for the eyes. His hair was long and blond, and he wore a jacket with jeans. I would have guessed he was younger than my mom if it wasn't for the odd way he spoke.

Then, he spoke to my mom. "Normally, I wouldn't harm a mother while with her child. After all, children aren't safe when left alone. I'd hate to put my future sustenance in danger. I'm afraid, though, that after smelling your daughter's blood, I can't walk away. I must feed on someone, and you're the only other human here right now. If it makes you feel any better, your girl will be safe. I fully intend for her to live to maturity. Humans are surprisingly resilient."

My mother was frantic, trying to keep hold of me and back away. She was begging him not to hurt us. He would let us get a few feet away from him and then he would dart back in front of us again, speeding too fast for us to see him actually move. I was in shock and clinging to my mother, staring at him with eyes open so wide they hurt.

After a couple moments, he gave me a quick smile. "Be right back, young female."

With that, he grabbed my mother out of my arms and sped away into the forest. I tried to follow but couldn't go nearly fast enough. I ran and ran until my legs were too tired to go on. I was lost and frantic, breathing heavy and fast. Everything in front of me started to blur, and colors began to swirl in front of my eyes. I felt my eyes close and my knees bend as I fell forward to the ground. I must have blacked out because when I next opened my eyes, I was propped against a tree, and the monster was sitting next to me. It looked as if he had been waiting very patiently for me to wake up. He began to speak to me as if we were friends, and he hadn't just destroyed my life by taking my mother away from me.

"I was waiting for you to wake up. I wanted to make sure you were safe. As I sat here, an interesting idea occurred to me. I must tell you, my existence has gotten a bit boring as of late. Occasionally, I need to make games for myself. So now, I have a new game!" He gave me a big smile as if I should be pleased at this news. I could only stare at him, hardly comprehending what he was saying.

"I'm going to tell you a secret, a very dangerous secret. Now, if I know my humans, this secret should pretty much ensure that your every waking moment is spent in fear. If there was anything I could do at all to help your blood taste better, this is it. And, when I come back for you in several years, the experience will be all that much better when I finally get to drink."

I couldn't imagine what secret he could possibly tell me that would scare me even more than I was already. My heart was racing so fast, I felt any more fear would kill me.

"So, sweet girl, here it is…I'm a…VAMPIRE!" He shouted the last word and spread his arms wide open as if presenting himself to me. He started to laugh at the look on my face as I took in his words.

A vampire? I barely knew what that was. I had asked my mom once why The Count on Sesame Street had fangs, and she said it was because he was a vampire. I must have looked confused instead of more scared because he because a disappointed look came over his face, and his arms dropped.

"Hmmm, guess you don't know what a vampire is yet. Well, I just took your mom, bit her neck, and drank all her blood. That is how I feed. You've seen me move. I'm not human, and I live forever. In around another decade or so, I'm going to come back for you and do the exact same thing to you that I did to your mom. Get it now?"

I got it. I started to cry and tried to get on my feet to run, but I couldn't manage.

"Here's the important part: you must never tell anyone what I just told you. It's a big secret! If you tell anyone, I will know. I will come back and kill your father just like I did your mother. You will be all alone." He placed his index finger in front of his mouth and narrowed his red eyes at me to reinforce the message.

In the next moment, he darted away as if disappearing into thin air. I was in shock and let my body fall back to the ground, curling into a ball and crying until I blacked out again. My next memory was of waking up in my father's arms.

My father explained to me that I was found by the police, wandering on the road. My mother's body was located a few hours later, totally drained of blood.

Slowly, I came back to the present, sitting on the nasty floor of a high school bathroom. I had no problem keeping the image of the vampire in my memory, though. Thinking about it now, I could feel a cold sweat form on my body, and my pulse started to race, I was in danger of losing my focus. Lowering my eye lids again, I tried to compare the person from the hallway with the vampire from my past. The skin seemed identical; it was the eyes that were very different. The guy in the hallway didn't have red eyes. I would have remembered that no matter how distracted I was by his skin. The exact color didn't come to me right then; I think they were some kind of hazel, definitely not red. I wasn't sure what that meant. Did hazel eyes automatically disqualify him from being a vampire? Or was there a chance he was hiding red eyes with colored contacts?

Trying to figure this out was actually calming me down. Hoisting myself up off of the floor, I went to the sink to splash some water on my face. As I continued to think about the guy I'd bumped into, I put the vampire memory away for the moment. He'd tried to help me when I fell. When he spoke to me, he had a friendly look on his face. Thinking about him now, there really wasn't anything to scare the average person. It wasn't even like pale skin was all that uncommon here in the Pacific Northwest. I'd done a lot of research on vampires in the last ten years; stupid TV shows aside, it didn't make sense that one would attend high school. Obviously, I was just really stressed from the move and everything else, in addition to my regular daily dose of fear that came from just getting older—and more seasoned.

The warning bell rang for the start of the next class. I took a look at myself in the mirror to make sure I didn't appear all scared banshee like. My eyes were still a bit red but, as long as I kept my hair down, I'd be fine. I headed out of the bathroom and made my way towards my first class.

AP Calc went well, since I was already familiar with most of the material. The other morning classes seemed pretty easy, too. If I was lucky, I'd get to coast through the rest of the year. Lunch loomed, though, always the most difficult part of the day at a new school. Where would I sit? Should I sit at an empty table or risk a table with others? What would attract the least attention? So far, that one conversation with Jessica had been the only one I'd had to endure. Keeping my head down allowed me to be ignored.

After some thought, I decided on the strategy I used for lunch at the last new school I went to. Get there early, grab food as fast as possible and then sit at an empty table. It didn't look odd to be at an empty table if they were all empty.

When I got to the cafeteria, things went according to plan. I found a nice table in the far back corner. Lunch was a lovely Tex-Mex thing that looked like someone sneezed on a taco shell. Happily, tater tots were in abundance and easy to eat one handed while I read a book with the other. Gotta love the tots!

I had managed to tune out the rest of the room when I heard a smooth, disdainful voice next to me. "You're going to have to sit somewhere else; you're at our table."

I looked up after hearing those words and was struck dumb for the second time that day. The person talking to me was female, but she had the exact same pale skin as the guy I had bumped into earlier. The bright lights in the cafeteria actually made her skin look even whiter than his had. Looking at her, I wasn't sure which was stunning me more, her paleness or her beauty. She was way prettier than any actress or model I had ever seen. Regardless, she was fucking scaring me shitless.

The look on her face said she wanted to rip me to pieces. Unlike the friendly guy from the hall, I had no problem thinking she could be a vampire. I noticed, too, that her eyes weren't hazel like I thought I'd seen on the other guy—they were a creepy yellow color…like a cat. I couldn't believe someone so freaky was just walking around a high school like it was nothing! This was too much. I knew myself—I may be shy but I didn't scare easily. Really, a vampire was the only thing that could scare me. Even if I had no actual proof, my reaction convinced me. This girl, and the guy from the hall, were actually vampires; just like the one that had killed my mother.

As I sat there staring up at her, that same guy from the hall I was comparing her to approached and put an arm around her. They were clearly a couple, not related. Yet, the resemblance between the two of them was clear. Same skin, same eyes, too, now that I could see his better. He spoke to her in a calming voice.

"Rose, come on; we can sit somewhere else."

He turned to look at me and must have been startled by what he saw. "Hey, you okay?" he asked. "My name's Emmett, this is Rosalie."

I found my voice and managed to answer, "Bella. I'm Bella." I'm sure I looked like a psycho with my jaw dropped down to my knees and my eyes round as saucers. I wanted to run, but I was cornered.

"Emmett? Rose? What do we have here?"

A third pale-skinned student arrived. This one just about put me over the edge. He was tall and lean, like a runner. He was absolutely gorgeous, with hair an amazing dark bronze color, but his eyes were pitch black. I nearly shit myself looking at his eyes. He took a brief glance at me and then turned back to the others.

"What did you guys do to her? She looks scared to death." The way he talked, he didn't sound like he cared all that much.

Emmett spoke again, "Rose just asked her to leave the table."

He then turned back to me. "This is Edward; he's my brother. You don't look so good; do you need some help?"

"I'm sorry," I managed to croak out. "I'll get out of your way if you'll just please excuse me."

Rosalie took a step back, so I had barely enough room to edge by her. She seemed to enjoy my fear. Once I was by them, I got out of that room as fast as I could. I gave up on lunch and headed for the library, needing a quiet place to think.

The library was just what I needed to gather my thoughts. I'd always loved books, and being surrounded by them was a comfort. I felt like any answer I needed would somehow be on one of these shelves. Settling down, I started to work through what was going on.

A couple years after the attack, I had started to research vampires whenever I could without anyone noticing. I had never admitted to anyone what the creature was that killed my mother. I knew it wouldn't do any good, and I was just too afraid of being locked up in a mental hospital away from the only parent I had left. My research had left me an expert on all things vampire, but it was all based on lore and tradition. I was never able to find a truly factual sounding account of vampire existence. Some things like pale skin and immortality were present in all the tales. Others, like being defenseless against holy water and garlic were present in some, but not all. There were many stories that portrayed vampires as having no weakness at all and as being incredibly strong and fast. They were also said to be extremely charismatic, able to draw their prey in by their dulcet voices and sweet smell.

The door to the library opened, startling me. I looked up to see who it was and felt all my nerves start to go into panic mode again. It was the tall, lean one from the cafeteria…Edward. He was walking toward me and had obviously come looking for me. I froze in place, unable to move a muscle as I frantically realized we were all alone in here. I could hear that I was breathing too fast and knew that if I didn't calm down soon, I was going to start to hyperventilate and maybe black out. The thought of being unconscious, in a room with...that…scared me even more.

"Hello," he said. "Are you okay? You ran away so fast, I was worried you were sick. Do you need some help?" His voice was low and his tone that of someone trying to calm a skittish horse. He held up a hand and moved toward me a little as if he worried I might fall.

Almost against my will, I felt myself begin to relax. Even though he looked otherworldly, his words were perfectly normal, and he seemed concerned for me. My mind started working again, and I was trying to think about what I should say. Acting nice or not, I truly did not believe he was human, and while it didn't appear he intended to do me harm at the moment, I couldn't quite feel safe in a room with him.

He spoke again, "I'm Edward Cullen. It didn't look like you heard my name before. You're Bella?"

By now he must have thought I was some kind of head case. I had to say something.

"Yes," I said. "Sorry, I'm just a little flustered from the table thing at lunch. I didn't want to piss someone off before my first day was even over. I was planning to check out the library anyway. No big deal."

He just stood there looking at me with raised eyebrows. I could tell he wanted to call "bullshit" on me but was too polite. I wanted him to leave, so I could think some more. I couldn't concentrate with him standing there, all perfect looking but freaking me out at the same time.

"Well," I said, "I apologize for making your lunch awkward. I know now to stay away from that table."

"All right, Bella," he replied. "I'll take your word for it and leave you be."

With that, he turned around and walked out the door. Even his walk looked unreal…inhuman.

I needed to think. For now, I was assuming that my lucky-as-fuck ass was attending school with at least three vampires. I had no idea if the other students knew what they were or if the vampires were pretending to be human. How on earth anyone could think them normal was beyond me. Since I wasn't about to go talking to the other kids about them, I didn't know how I'd find out what other kids thought of them. I would have to observe whenever I could.

I was afraid that if the vampires were trying to keep their true nature a secret, and if they knew that I was aware of what they were, they would decide I was a danger and get rid of me. And, if I was in danger from them, then so was my dad. That scared me the most. I already had one parent die because of me. I needed to start hiding my reactions better so they wouldn't know I was terrified every time I was near one of them. It was a dead giveaway.

It was weird; while I was certainly very scared, I found that I was also really fucking pissed off. As if knowing that there was a vampire out there planning to come for me at any time wasn't bad enough, I was now attending school with them as well. For all I knew, they were reporting back to him on exactly how I smelled. At this point, anything was possible. I didn't know what the fuck I had ever done to deserve this.

For the time being, there was nothing I could do except go to my next class and try to figure out what was going on in this place. If I couldn't control my reactions, well…there were other ways I knew of to appear unafraid.

A/N I would love to hear what you think - please review! If you have had read the previous version of this and the last chapter - do you like the changes?