A/N: So Edward left you guys a message. If you would like to read it, go to my profile. Thank you so much for all the response to chapter one! I have the story all mapped out in my head, it's just a matter of writing it now. Updates should be coming twice a week, but I apologize in advance if it doesn't end up that way. But it should. For now, at least. Remember, twitter is the easiest way to follow the story's schedule. You can follow me at: _simplydazzling

I decided to keep this story strictly BPOV. Even though it's just as much Edward's journey as it is hers, I want you to be able to experience it through her eyes and perspective. And who knows? EPOV could make a cameo. Just saying. But really, do you think Edward's in any place or mind-set to be a story teller? Exactly.

Thanks a million-bajillion to Mary Beth (the_brunette_writer) for making the chapters so pretty. I'm pretty sure I don't know where I'd be without you, twiny, so thanks for dealing with my always overly scattered brain. (:


Chapter Two - High Temperatures

My tires sloshed loudly in the rain as I pulled into the dreary parking lot of Forks High School. I had mixed feelings about the day ahead of me and wondered idly if the rain was the only thing that was putting a gloomy tone on the start of the day and what I was feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I ran through the maze of cars, attempting to get under shelter before my appearance began to resemble that of a drowned cat. It was a miracle itself that I managed not to fall on my face in the process. Ignoring Alice's previous requests from yesterday about meeting up with her before school started, I headed straight for Trig where I knew she was already waiting for me.

Charlie had come out of nowhere with a surprised breakfast in bed that morning, claiming it was a late homecoming treat he hadn't been able to do before. Graciously accepting his poorly cooked pancakes, I ended up falling behind on my usual morning routine which was the initial cause for my haste to arrive on-time.

I walked into the room, shoes squeaking on the already wet trail on the tiled floor, seconds before the trilling final bell sounded loudly through the empty halls. Alice was sitting in the same spot she had selected yesterday with an empty one next to her. I mustered up a smile as her exhilaratingly bright eyes darted to mine.

The weather clearly didn't affect Alice's always chipper mood. The vibrant colors of her outfit refused to let you frown in her presence as she gave off an incredibly refreshing aura. "Sorry I couldn't meet you this morning, Alice," I apologized. "I was running late."

She grinned, waving a hand dismissively in the air. "No biggie, Bella!" She quickly assured me, pulling out her five billion pound math book from her backpack and plopping it down loudly on her desk. "Oh, and you look super cute today, by the way."

"Thanks," I mumbled as I felt my cheeks burn. I never really did the whole compliment thing. Correction: I never really got compliments in the first place. My appearance was never really my top priority so I rarely put any effort into it at all. There would be the occasional days that I felt it was necessary for a small touch of mascara, but more often than not I was completely content in blue jeans and a simple blouse. I rarely had a need to dress up, so I rarely did. "So do you," I smiled back, quickly pushing away my own awkwardness on the subject.

Alice chatted throughout the whole class, providing enough conversation for the both of us combined. I was surprised to discover that it was exceptionally easy, listening to her and working on math problems at the same time. It was actually amazing how multitasking worked and how much I managed to accomplish in the fifty minute period. I waved goodbye to Alice as soon as we stepped into the hallway, promising her I'd see her at lunch.

I walked to my English class in a mood far better than I had begin with this morning, refusing to let anything result in faltering the smile I wore behind the impassively grim line of my mouth.

I took my seat in the middle of the classroom like I had yesterday, glancing around the room warily as the bell rang for any signs of his messy bronze hair. Just like yesterday, Mr. Banner frowned at the silence that proceeded to follow his attendance call for Edward Cullen, failing to receive back the 'here' everyone else was able to produce. Did this boy ever show up for school?

-oOo-

Lunch was easier than it had been yesterday. Now that I knew the names of everyone, I felt slightly more comfortable than I had before. Yet, I still remained as unsettled as ever. Sure I knew names, but personalities and attitudes were a whole different story. I began to worry that the process of easing in would be more difficult than I originally intended.

As soon as I set foot in the cafeteria, it took Alice a grand total of about 0.7 seconds to notice my presence. Just like yesterday, she enthusiastically waved me over as her piggy-tails bounced along with her.

"Bella, I promise you we don't bite." Jasper assured me before I could even sit all the way down in my seat. I hated the fact that my discomfort was so blatantly obvious. I met his gaze directly and offered him a half smile. "I'm serious! Why do you always look like you're scared out of your shoes?"

I liked Jasper. He seemed warm. I certainly wasn't surprised at how well he and Alice got along. In fact, I would have been surprised had they not been together. I shrugged at him, trying to come off as casual. "Guess I'm just naturally timid," I confessed with a slight frown.

"Well I'll say," I heard Rosalie's acidic voice from across the table as she gave me an exasperated look, boredom evident. "What was your name again? Sorry, I forgot."

Slightly offended yet unabashed, I straightened my chin, bravely locking my eyes with hers. "It's Bella. And don't worry," I paused, matching the flatness of her tone. "It happens all the time, Rosaleen."

I expected another one of her infamously snippy glares, but I was caught off guard in the most surprising way when her twisted expression suddenly spread into an amused smirk. "You know what, Bella? I guess you're alright."

"Rosalie Hale is accepting someone? Babe, I never thought I'd see the day." Emmett proclaimed loudly, making a big deal to display his genuine shock and mock pride. "I told you it was gonna be a new year."

She narrowed her eyes at him, quickly directing her attention away from me once again. I had a feeling that with Rosalie, receiving even the smallest kind of recognition was rare and when it happened, a big deal. Alice gave me a look indicating that my wistful thinking was correct.

"Emmett," she hissed menacingly. "If that's how you wanna think about it then fine. But remember, babe," she picked up the apple on her tray, twirling it around in her slender fingers before pressing it to her mouth and taking a seductive bite out of it. "A new year could mean lots of things. You know, maybe we should start following our virtues and listening to the big man in the sky about abstinence. Your mom has been trying to get you to church lately."

Emmett's face resembled that of a child on Christmas morning who had opened up all of his presents only to find out that none of them were what he had wanted to receive. The way his jaw literally dropped at her threatening words was actually comical. I disguised my quiet laughter with a poor attempt at a cough.

"That's what I thought," she muttered smugly before taking another bite out of her dark red apple. I was beginning to understand what Alice had meant when she had warned me that Rosalie could be lethal when she wanted to be.

While I may not have impacted or sparked the interest of any of the table's occupants, I wasn't exactly unwelcome there either. Regardless of the fact that the lives of Rosalie and the others could happily go on without me being there, I was content in knowing that I had yet to make any enemies just yet.

I suffered through both Spanish and A.P. History in a daze, walking to Biology and holding in the urge to yawn every five seconds. No doubt had the dreary weather resurfaced once again in affecting my less than pleasant attitude. What I really wanted was to go home, curl up on the couch with a hot cup of apple cider, and read some Jane Eyre.

Eyes half closed, I dropped my backpack down on the floor next to my empty lab table. I actually ended up folding my arms across the top of the black surface, resting my head on them as I allowed my eyes to fall shut just a few moments before the bell rang.

For some instinctive reason, I felt the need to glance up at the door the same second it flew open. In a mild haste, Edward Cullen entered through the door with his gaze plastered towards the floor as usually seemed to be.

For reasons I just couldn't fathom, my eyes were entranced in his direction, refusing to allow my stare to falter in any way. Edward just always seemed to have the uncanny ability to stand out in whatever environment he was in. Like a brand new golf ball in the middle of a lush green fairway, or the way your eyes were immediately drawn to a flashing fluorescent sign.

His hair resembled the exact same appearance it had yesterday; the copper strands of his hair flew wildly around his face, surely the productivity of his constantly active hands. The stubble on his jawline appeared even more evident than it had since I had last caught a glimpse of him. With his eyes still glued to the floor, I couldn't study what his condition seemed to be today.

It took me longer than it should have to process the fact that he was in my class, which confused me. Apparently I wasn't aware that school-skipping potheads met the academic curriculum standards to be accepted into an AP Biology class.

To my horror, it occurred to me that he was walking in my direction as I suddenly came to an upsetting realization that the only open seat in the crowded classroom was currently the unoccupied space beside me.

Sure enough, I was correct in my assumption. Without so much as a word of acknowledgement, he pulled out the chair next to me and sat down, placing his bag in front of him on the table and inclining himself in his chair into a more relaxed position. He never once indicated that their was a human being next to him.

The bell unwillingly pulled me from my gaze in his direction, forcing me to look up front. "I know it's only the second day," Mrs. Snow began as she slowly paced in the front of the classroom. "But I'm not having us waste any time, so we'll just jump into things right away." She retrieved a thick stack of papers from off her desk and began passing them out. "This is an introductory worksheet into the unit we're going to be starting: genetics. I want you and your partner to work together on this so you get to know each other better. A majority of this class will be done with your lab partner, so I suggest you try and be civil with each other."

I resisted the strong urge to groan. It might have been unfair of me to make such quick assumptions about his working ethics, but I was fairly confident that I had gathered enough information to put two and two together. Considering all things that had happened in the last two non-eventful days, I knew that Edward was most likely not going to be the most favorable of lab partners.

The amount of time between when she placed the worksheet on our table and when one of us actually chose to say something was substantially painful. The blank sheet laid on the table in the space between us as my mouth blurted the first thing I was thinking without warning.

"So, do you ever show up to class?" I asked him rather bluntly, kicking myself internally as soon as I realized what an obscenely rude question that was to ask someone you've never actually met. I grimaced apologetically as I awaited his sure-to-be irritated response, biting my lip.

For the first time since he had walked into the room, his gaze raised to meet mine. He appeared to be amused, but I really couldn't tell. I was too distracted by the startling difference in his eyes. "I wasn't aware that my attendance was being monitored." The rims around them weren't as red today, but they were still fairly bloodshot.

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, very aware of his apparent scrutiny. His eyes appeared to be studying me, never removing his gaze from mine. I felt paralyzed. His stare was unnerving. I could feel the color work its way to my cheeks and knew that Edward noticed it too as I watched a slightly amused smirk just barely cross his lips.

"Why weren't you here yesterday?" I managed to get out, reluctantly breaking our odd stare down and tearing my eyes away from his. I directed my gaze to the worksheet we were currently supposed to be working on, relieved that I was no longer obligated to look at him.

But when I became agitated that he wasn't answering my questions, I glanced at him once again, and to my horror, found him still staring intently in my direction. "I don't know," he finally answered with a casual shrug before looking away again. My impressions on the kind of person Edward Cullen was were certainly not improving.

Knowing the way Emmett was and also well aware of the type of person Alice was, I wondered with profound curiosity what drove Edward to be so entirely different from the two of them. Why he was so seemingly bound to failure. The more I looked at him though, the more I noticed. His foot bounced rapidly up and down like he physically wasn't able to sit still. I glanced at his hands, noticing the torn off, jagged edges of his nails, no doubt the sign of constant biting. Even from just studying the side of his face I noticed there was a certain sadness in his eyes that was almost startling. It made me wonder if there was actually a remotely deep reason why he chose to put so many harmful chemicals into his system.

"You look tired," I observed unthinkingly. The deep bags under his eyes were similar to what they had resembled yesterday and were impossible not to notice, even more so now that I was up much closer to him.

His face remained expressionless as he pursed his lips. "You and your observations. I suppose there is a reason you're in this class, huh?" He rolled his eyes as his sarcasm came out sharp and the same irritation from yesterday rapidly began to resurface as his face slowly came to life.

Caught off guard by his sudden mood shift, I switched tactics, refreshing him with another introduction since I was fairly positive yesterday's wasn't something he remembered."I'm Bella, by the way," I said as I ignored the way he seemed to want nothing to do with my conversation.

I didn't care what his issues were, I didn't care about why smoking weed to him was more important than maintaining school attendance, but I did care that his participation in this class would affect my grade. Mrs. Snow had made it as clear as crystal that partner work in class would be something we needed to prioritize. In other words, if him not wanting to speak to me was going to in any way harm my GPA, that was just too damn bad for him.

If only I had the courage to tell him that in so many words. It was embarrassing, really; the inability to form simple sentences under the spotlight of his mere presence.

"Edward Cullen," he told me in a flat voice before reaching a hand up to rub over his exhausted eyes. "And yeah, I am tired." His gaze that had been on me for the majority of the conversation suddenly flickered down towards the pencil lying on the desk, instantly filling me with relief that I was no longer his main focus. "You have no idea."

I looked away, silently shaking my head in awe at what extremely different temperatures his mood seemed to consist of. One minute, he was burning over a hundred with a lethal glare in response to an honest statement. The next he was verging on hypothermia with a sense of some eternal struggle he seemingly held for himself. It wasn't evident whether he was feeling self-pity, self-hatred, or just hatred in general. Maybe all three – I really couldn't tell.

Edward was one of the very few people here who was hard to read. There was one thing though that I was absolutely positive of. This year was going to be an incredibly long one unless I figured out what had him so on edge all of the time.

He didn't exactly seem too eager to continue where the conversation was going (which was nowhere), so I gave up in my hopes of perusing it. It was damn obvious that me talking to him would only strain his tolerance even more than it already was. Besides, I didn't want to be the one that pushed him to his high temperatures. I actually intended on keeping good on the whole 'no enemy' thing this year. If talking to him as little as possible meant staying on his very rare good side then I guess that's what I'd do.

I sighed silently to myself. Theoretically, that would have been an easy plan to stick to, had the urge to talk to him not been so potent. I couldn't quite fathom what about him was so interesting, but the fact was, his mysterious pull was practically unavoidable. He was like one of those books you saw in the library; the one with the extremely eccentric cover and vague summary that basically forced you to read the book whether you wanted to or not, just so you could figure out what the hell it was about.

The rest of class consisted of finishing our worksheet. The only time either of us would talk was when we found the answer to a particular problem. The silence was almost painful. I mean, I was no Alice, but sometimes just a little casual conversation was nice.

Whenever I was sure he wasn't looking, I'd glance over at him. He was constantly touching his face; running his hands through his hair, rubbing his eyes, tapping his fingers repeatedly on the desk. As Edward turned to face me once again with a funny expression crossing his face, I had this sudden fear that it would be impossible for me to ever keep up with him.

"You're new here, right?" He asked as he pursed his lips. I wasn't sure whether he was actually trying to figure something out or if it was merely just the amount of THC coursing through his bloodstream at the moment.

"Yes," I answered, "I just moved here a few weeks ago from Phoenix." Why I was explaining my exceptionally boring life to him, I wasn't sure. He seemed interested enough.

"Why?" He asked casually. The tapping of his fingers increased as my eyes followed his rapid up and down movements on the black tabletop.

"Um, I don't know," I replied vaguely, nervously pulling at the sleeves of my brown sweater as I cautiously continued to watch him.

He shook his head with a slight look of disgust. "Well that's stupid." He stated, doing another one-eighty on me. I suddenly backtracked on whether or not I had said something wrong. Why did my simple responses always seem to get such a reaction from him?

"Excuse me?" I responded in confusion. He stopped his finger tapping abruptly and looked away from me, out the window into the dreary rain as if he were deliberately refusing to meet my questioning gaze.

"You don't know why you came here? That's stupid." He replied tersely. So the 'I don't know' card was acceptable only when it was used by him? I was sick of trying to be civilized with his less than desirable attitude.

This clearly wasn't working. I was at a loss as to what I was supposed to say to him and my irritation only continued to grow. Frustrated with how he was acting, I squared my chin, looking directly at him as I narrowed my eyes. "Stupid, huh? That's nice. You're really one to talk."

He stared at me as if he had no idea what I was referring to before finally, an incredibly hostile look crossed his face. He must have easily read my intentions because suddenly, he was unleashing his capably lethal glare. "I don't want you to try and figure me out okay? I've got enough people trying to dissect me like a fucking science experiment, so don't."

"I wasn't–" I began to stutter helplessly, amazed at how quickly he could just turn the tables like that. Any motives behind standing up for myself were cut off abruptly by the look he was now giving me.

"Bella, you seem nice. I'm not. Don't think otherwise." Moments after he finished his statement, the bell rang. Edward stared at me for mere seconds before standing up abruptly, slamming his chair back against the table, and sauntering quickly out the door before anyone else.

Not nice? Well that was for damn sure.

-oOo-

I tapped my pencil quietly against the math book I had placed neatly in my crossed legs, biting my lip. I studied the amount of time that had gone by on the clock since my initial anxiety began, deciding that I had tortured myself long enough.

Alice opted for a study session with me after school since Jazz had baseball practice. I had promptly volunteered my house as our location. After the struggle my last class of the day had been, I knew that the last thing I wanted was to have to face him again.

She sat across from me on my bed, a thoughtful expression on her face as she pursed her lips in attempts to solve her Trig homework. "Alice," I began cautiously, glancing over at her knowing very well that I'd probably regret asking. "What's wrong with Edward?"

She looked up at me through her long lashes without so much as blinking. "So much, Bella. If you really wanted to get in on that topic – which you don't – the discussion of his issues would most likely take us well into the night."

And for the first time since I had met her, Alice looked. . .exhausted. Like the subject of her cousin brought along a certain weariness to her otherwise perfect attitude. I shrugged, "I think he's in two of my classes. I don't – I mean. . .well, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to say around him and what I'm not."

She chuckled sadly, setting down her pink mechanical pencil before finally meeting my gaze directly. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, Bella, I promise. I'm just worried about some things. It's nothing," she lied hopelessly.

"What things?" I asked with a soft, assuring glance, refusing to come off as rude for wanting to know more about her family and prying the way I was. I didn't want to make her upset by asking certain questions, so I remained as careful as I could.

She stared at me for a few moments, her face somber. Finally, she sighed. "I don't want you to get your hopes up, that's all."

Get my hopes up? For what? It was very unlike Alice to be vague, no matter what topic we were discussing. The rarity of getting her to be silent about something only made me want to know so much more. "Alice, I'm not sure I understand. . ."

She laughed quietly, though it didn't touch her eyes like it normally did. "I know, Bella, and I know Edward. He's the kind of mystery guy you end up trying to know whether you want to or not. He has this way of drawing people to him. It's weird, I know. I'm just worried, you know, you're gonna. . ." She trailed off with a frown.

"Fall for him?" I asked incredulously. "God no, Alice! I really don't think you should worr–"

"That's not what I meant," she quickly backtracked. "I'm worried you're gonna want to try and fix him up. He's not exactly the most happy person right now, and he's going through a lot – he's not much of a confessor and I'm worried if people start trying to get him to talk, it's gonna hurt him more than he already is hurting."

I had been curious about Edward Cullen this morning, but it had been easily ignorable. I had been curious about Edward Cullen as soon as I left the Biology classroom, but I managed to get over it. I was now curious about Edward Cullen more than was entirely sane, and knew that if I didn't figure out what the hell Alice was referring to soon, it'd be the death of me.

"Alice," I told her honestly, being as blatant as I could with my intentions. "All I want is to know what his problem is. That's all. I just want to know." I stretched out my syllables longer than entirely necessary so I'd get my point across to her better.

I was unprepared for her next statement to catch me so completely off guard. "About a year and a half ago both his parents were killed in a car accident." My throat became as dry as a desert as I remained silent. "Edward was in the car too. There had been a driver of a semi who fell asleep at the wheel. He was in the opposite lane but shifted over at the last second." She paused for a long moment, her eyes staring off blankly into space. "They were found dead – their bodies shielded protectively over Edward in attempts to save him who had been unconscious. Edward was in a coma for a little over a week before he finally came back around."

A long moment of silence passed. "That's terrible," My voice cracked. "What happened after that?"

"I was living in Jacksonville at the time. Edward's the oldest in the family and had only been sixteen and Em's only eleven months younger than him so they needed a legal guardian. My mom and dad, Carlisle and Esme, agreed to come here and live with them and take custody." The look on her face indicated that the worst part of the story was over.

"That's really nice of them," I observed out loud. She looked a little more relaxed than she had been a few minutes ago which made me relieved. I hated to make her feel uncomfortable in any way since she was always more than nice to me.

She shrugged with a small smile. "It's what family does. Besides," she continued. "Someone needs to take care of Seth."

Speaking of Seth, I still needed to meet that kid. Based on the polar opposite differences between his two brothers, I wondered what he would be like. Would he have bronze hair like Edward? Or maybe dimples like Emmett?

"So that's why Edward is how he is now," I concluded quietly.

She sadly nodded her head in confirmation, remorse very evident on her face. "The killer part though is what he used to be. Edward used to be the sweetest guy you'd ever meet. His grades were all well above average, he cared about sports, and he maintained steady popularity throughout all his years in school. He's always been high up on the latter of success, and after the accident it's like he started to climb down. He's not climbing down it anymore though, he's falling."

I considered the Edward Alice had just described. I imagined what his accented features would look like when he actually cracked a genuine smile. I imagined the image of a carefree Edward; one who showed up on time to class every day – the captain of every sports team; the golden boy with everything to look forward to in life.

It was easy to fall in love with the imagine in my head I had created of him, and I suddenly realized what Alice had meant by resisting the urge to make him like that once again, to try and 'fix him up.'

"Carlisle's a doctor, isn't he?" I pressed persistently. "Hasn't he tried to get him on some sort of medication or something? I mean, I don't think weed's the type of drug Edward needs to get better." More like anti-depressant medication that was actually prescribed by a legitimate doctor and not the loser drop-out from under the gym bleachers.

She sighed, shaking her head with a grim expression. "See, Bella? See what I mean now? It's an appealing idea, isn't it? – getting him back on track. We all want him back. In fact, there's no one who misses him more than Emmett, though you would never guess that. Since Emmett and Edward are so close in age, they've always been each other's best friend. Now that all Edward does is spend his time lighting up, Emmett wants nothing to do with him."

"So that's it then?" I couldn't hide the blatant shock I'm sure she noticed to. "He's just gonna be like this for the rest of his life? Alice, do you realize how much harm he's inflicting on himself every time he inhales?"

Alice finally looked up again, eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I know that," she managed to choke out in a whisper. She shut her eyes. "He's a lost cause, Bella. We don't know what to do and he won't let us help. There's nothing we can do."

The last thing I expected to come from the day was managing to end up feeling sorry for Edward Cullen, the asshole pothead who acted like a jerk to just about everyone who dared cross paths with him.

But I did feel sorry for him.

Not only did I feel sorry for him, but I hated him. Hated him for making me spend all my time contemplating what was going on inside the brain cells he continued to kill off each day by god only knew how many dangerous fumes he chose to put into his system.

But most of all, I hated him for completely disregarding the feelings of his family in the process of his own self destruction.


And the shadow of the day,
Will embrace the world in grey.
And the sun will set for you.
- Shadow Of the Day, Linkin Park

Chapter 3 will be posted on Wednesday for sure.

Please leave some reviews? They make me want to write. (: