Well, here it is the second chapter that you've all patiently waited for. As always I don't own any Twilight characters, although the storyline is very much mine.
PLEASE REVIEW, thank you to all my reviewers; they inspire me to upload more!
Chapter 2
It was quiet in the house, for I had been left alone after declining Carlisle's offer to join them all on the monthly family hike. It was one of the rare occasions when we all actually went on a hike, only it wasn't the mere miles that humans could endure. We would go on for kilometres and still have the energy to do more. It could be refreshing at times, but for the most part I considered it to be a depressing advantage; it was a representative of our immortal lives; we would live on and on and on. We would forever be living yet never changing, and it would be our punishment for unsettling the balances of nature. In the end, it was karma that had the last laugh.
I sighed as I thought of the meaningless void that was my existence. It had been a year since Bella's death and my family had recognised that when she'd died, a part of me had died with her and I would probably never be the same again. I knew it was true, I didn't want to be the same person I was before, it would only set a trap for another disappointment. I had loved Bella so much, and now she was gone, I saw no purpose in my existence in the world. I wanted to end it all, and I would have, if not for my caring family. Although I had known that whatever soul we could ever possess was damned on the day of our death, I had not realised that I was doomed to suffer even as I still lived.
I walked towards my piano and sat down on the stool, my finger gracing the ivory keys as they automatically performed Bella's lullaby, and it was as though I wasn't playing it myself, but instead I had hit play on a stereo. I let my mind fill with memories of her as the melody numbed my emotions and allowed me to manifest images of Bella in my mind. I felt my whole being flow with the music, like running water; I kept flowing and flowing…
There was a sudden knock at the door. My hands froze and I stood up from the stool. I could smell the werewolf scent before I saw its owner. I suspected it to be Seth who often came to visit, or possibly, though less likely, Jacob who was usually the bearer of bad news. I sighed as I was snapped out of my trance and dragged back into reality. I slowly made my way to the door and the persistent knocking got louder as the visitor grew impatient. The knocking stopped the exact moment that I reached the door; I suspected the person had given up and decided to leave, although I could still smell the strong, unappealing scent of a shifter. Hesitantly, I opened the door anyway, only to find someone I had very least of all assumed it to be.
"Leah?" I asked, although I knew exactly who she was and that my eyes were not deceiving me. The tall slender female turned, a scowl engraved into her expression as she crossed her arms fractiously.
"Well took you long enough! I've been standing here for ages." she complained, irritated.
I rolled my eyes, "No, you've been standing here for two minutes." I told her with a frown.
"Two minutes too long." She muttered.
I ran a hand through my hair frustratingly, "Look, I don't mean any offense, but why are you here?" Leah scowl was quickly accompanied by a death-eating glare that stilled me to my core. I raised my hands in defence.
"I don't mean anything by it." I said with a shrug.
I groaned inwardly, the one day that I would have been left alone to sink into my sorrows without worrying about how it affected my family, was being interrupted by this aggravating she-wolf. I considered this to be yet another one of karma's tricks, although I really did not know what I'd done in order to deserve it.
"Look leech, I don't want to be here, but I need to talk to you about something important." She stated nonchalantly. She averted her gaze to our surroundings, refusing to meet my eyes. There was a long pause before I lost the ounce of patience that I'd had.
"Well, what is it?" I asked my tone shamefully bitter and severe. For a miniscule of a second, a look of hurt flitted across Leah's face, before it turned to anger and irritation, and I knew I couldn't exactly blame her.
"You know what you freakin' parasite, forget it. Forget I even came here, I knew I shouldn't have anyway." Leah shook her head and sauntered away. I ran my finger through my hair once more, it was only midday and I had already done this four times; I had a feeling I would be bald by the end of the day. I abruptly ran and stopped her path; she looked livid.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, her voice threatening as her arms started shaking. I raised a brow, somewhat worried as I tried to picture fighting this girl before me. I knew she was tough and strong, but I really didn't want to hurt her.
"Leah, I know that was rude of me and I am sincerely apologetic, I truly hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."
Leah glared at me, her hands placed on her hips as she stood in a proud position with a judging glint in her brown eyes.
"Whatever." She responded reluctantly, though her face softened, if only slightly, and her body became less tense.
"What did you want to talk about?" I asked, now curious as to what would cause such a scene on this otherwise calm and peaceful day. Leah once again avoided my gaze as she mumbled her answer.
"I need help with something." My brows furrowed as I began to question what I had just heard. After all the restraint of blocking out her mind, I let myself look into it in order to see what possible situation would render her defenceless enough to ask me for help.
"Stop that, you're trying to rape my mind, aren't you? Quit it." she snapped irately. I stepped backwards as a wave of anger was directed towards me. I mumbled an apology and she rolled her eyes in response.
"I came here to ask you for he-, um, something." I nodded slowly, encouraging her to continue. She strolled towards a nearby tree and picked the vibrant green leaves off their branch.
"I've been taking these classes-,"
"At the high school on the Reservation? Seth told me about it."
She glared at me, her arm falling by her side. "Don't interrupt me leech." She said as somewhat of a warning.
"Yes I've returned to high school and I'm supposed to graduate in three months, but I can't do that unless I pass all my classes and that's the… issue. I didn't do very well in biology." She turned away from the tree and glanced at me sheepishly and for a moment I could have sworn I felt a tug at my chest as I absorbed this softer side of Leah. But it was only for a moment. Her usual charade returned with full force rapidly.
"I mean, I passed everything else of course, with flying colours even." She said with a proud, boastful tone that reminded me of Rosalie, though I knew that if I ever mentioned this to either of them, I would be quartered. Slowly and painfully.
"But it's just biology that I didn't do so well in. So anyway, I came here to ask if you could… um well… tutor me." Leah looked down at the ground, utterly ashamed of herself. I raised a brow, a small grin subconsciously found its way to my lips.
"What was that? Did you just ask me for help with biology?" I said smugly. She simply rolled her eyes in response, inspecting her nails with a sudden thorough interest.
"Just tell me your answer, will you do it or not?" she asked briskly.
I strolled over to her and when I came face to face to her, I was met with her strong scent of the woodsy nature with a hint of jasmine. It wasn't utterly unpleasant. I looked at her squarely in the eye and crossed my arms in a demanding fashion. If she wanted my help, she would have to earn it.
"I'll only do it under one condition. I want you to ask me nicely." I answered. I watched as her eyes glazed over with irritation and her lips set to a line as she clenched her jaw.
"Fine, leech will you tutor me, yes or no?"
I laughed humourlessly.
"That wasn't very nice."
Leah squinted, "You're pushing your luck leech."
"And you're pushing yours, Leah. I know we are not best acquainted, but my name is Edward not leech, and secondly if you want me to help you achieve the grades you want then the least you could do is ask me properly." I said with a shrug. Leah opened her mouth to respond but then reconsidered it. After a moment she sighed.
"Fine I'll ask you nicely. L-Edward, oh holy asshole, will you please tutor me with your never-ending intelligence?"
"Yes, Leah I will, though I don't appreciate the sarcasm." With that said I began walking towards my house once more. I then stopped when I realised she hadn't followed.
"Well, aren't you coming?" I asked confusedly. Leah seemed just as confused as I felt.
"Coming where?"
"You said you wanted to study didn't you?"
"What, but I didn't mean now."
"Why not now? My family is out so we'll be alone, and I don't know about you, but I don't feel like answering multiple questions concerning your presence here."
"But I didn't bring my books." She said awkwardly as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
"You don't need them; I'll enlighten you with my never-ending intelligence."I answered with a smug grin. Leah raised a brow, but the corners of her lips wavered as she resisted a smile.
"Whatever; lead the way then."
Thank you very much for reading! Now if you could just press the REVIEW button… that would be great thanks! ; D
