Disclaimer - I don't own anything.

*~*~*~*~*March 19th *~*~*~*~*

Have you ever had one of those experiences where you freak out? Where you just cannot handle everything going on around you? You black out, or just run out of the room? Yes, that has just happened.

Starting a new school is bad enough. I've never done that. I've been in the same class of people since kindergarten. Living in a small town does that. You don't get new kids, and most of the people in your kindergarten class stay in your class until you graduate. These people knew me, they knew how unbelievably shy I was. They knew that I blushed at almost every word someone said. They knew that I'm so clumsy I'm almost disabled.

The people here didn't know me. They didn't know my flaws; they didn't know me at all. So, when you walk into a classroom for the first time, and fall within seconds, you get embarrassed. Or in my case, you start to hyperventilate.

I quickly got to my feet and stumbled to a spare seat, Biology. This just made it so much better. I hate this lesson. I have no scientific ability what so ever.

As I sit down, everyone is staring at me. I try to clam myself, and bring down the red colour that I know I am. I sit down and get out my books, trying to act normally, as if nothing had happened. But, let's face it, I just walked into a room full of 30 kids that all know each other and fell flat on my face. That's not nothing, that's pretty huge.

As much as I try to keep my mind off the fact I just embarrassed myself, and that I'll never live it down, I can't. I feel my heart racing, and the sniggers that are coming from around the room are getting louder and louder in my mind. I feel my breath coming faster and faster and before I know what I am even doing, I'm running out of the room.

Running. I managed to run without falling. I had left my books on the desk, but I couldn't bring myself to care. Running out the room probably made this worse, but I couldn't stop myself. I walked down the corridor as quickly as I could, trying to calm myself. Being alone helped. I couldn't hear the gossiping, or laughing at my expense, it was just me. Then I heard some footsteps coming up behind me. I looked around, seeing if there was a room I could duck into. If it was teacher, I would be in trouble. On my first day, none the less. If it was a student, they would no doubt mock me, and I couldn't be dealing with that.

There wasn't anything around, but I saw a bathroom. It was male, but I could sneak in and out and hopefully the person wouldn't notice me. I went towards the door but before I could get my hands up to open the door a voice rang down the corridor.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," The voice was velvet and perfect, and made my racing heart skip a beat.

"Excuse me?" I muttered, turning my head to see who was following me.

"The men's bathroom. Surly you can see that it would make this much worse."

"Worse?" I shouted, and then blushed even more.

"Calm down." He breathed. I looked up at his face, and what I saw was indescribable. He was the perfection incarnate. His face was flawless, his skin a perfect pale. His jaw was strong and angular and his eyes... God, his eyes. They were a piercing green that could make any girl drop to her knees. My hands touched the door, which I'm sure was a reaction to seeing his eyes. I had to steady myself.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so embarrassed."

"I can see that," he smirked. Oh my, he smirked. That just added to his beauty. His half crooked smile topped of the look.

"What? Did you just come out here to rub it in?" I asked annoyed.

"No," he defended quickly. "I came to see if you were okay. That must have been hard for you."

"Thanks," I muttered, embarrassed again. Can anyone else see a common theme here?

"It's no trouble," he said, walking a little closer. "Do you want to take a walk? Calm down?" I looked up at him, and his eyes twinkled. They actually twinkled. I didn't think that actually happened. I thought it was books and TV that made guys out to be the be all and end all, apparently I was wrong.

"You don't have to do that. I'll walk by myself. You can go back to class."

"Please don't make me go back there," he said, grinning again.

"So, you didn't really come out here to check on me?" I asked, laughing a little. He chuckled a little as well, and the sound. It made my heart skip another beat. I'd be dead soon if he kept talking to me. I can see it know.

Isabella Swan

Age 17

Heart failure caused by unknown school beauty.

"Oh no, I did. Getting out of that lesson is just an added bonus."

"Well, you don't have to stay with me. You can skip, and just say you were with me. I'll cover for you."

"No. As I said, getting out of Biology was an added bonus; the first one is getting to talk to a beautiful girl." I scoffed at that. He was teasing, he had to be.

"It's not nice to lie." I accused

"I was not lying. I would never lie to you." 'To me'?

"Sure, sure," I brushed him off.

"You can't take a compliment very well can you?"

"I've never needed to" I answered, maybe too honestly.

"I'm sure that's not true."

"It really is,"

"Well, we'll have to change that." Why was he doing this? Why was he being nice? I was a mess. I couldn't stand on my own two feet, and he caught me trying to hide in the men's bathroom.

"Please don't" I begged.

"Why?"

"The blushing, it's uncontrollable" I didn't need to do that anymore. It was horrible, and I wish I had some control over it.

"It's also very beautiful"

"Lying again," I muttered.

"You should trust me. I don't lie, and you are beautiful."

"I'm not going to believe you."

"Well, I will just keep telling you until you do."

"You don't have to do that,"

"I want to"

"Why?"

"I have no idea" He muttered. Well, that was evasive. I was going to ask what he meant but he started to speak again before I could. "So, about that walk?"

"What about it?"

"Can we go? Hanging around outside a bathroom, even though it's not public is making me nervous. I feel like George Michael should turn up any minute."

"Sure," I laughed. "Let's go." We walked off in the opposite direction of class, thank god.

We walked around the outside of the school buildings a few times before the bells signalled that the next class was to begin.

"We really should go back to class. You left all your stuff there, and so did I."

"Okay." I said hesitantly.

"Bella," he breathed. "You don't have to be embarrassed. Everyone has a bad experience. Would it help if I told you mine?"

"Sure," I said. If it kept him talking and I could hear his voice more, I would take anything. We started off in the direction of the biology room. He didn't say anything; he just kept glancing in my direction, and looking away when I saw him. It was cute. He was cute, not just in looks but he had little quirks that I was sure defined him as him. He had that perfect crooked grin, and that hair. I'm sure it couldn't be tamed. His eyes were the perfect piercing green.

"Your story..." I pressed. I wanted to hear his voice.

"Oh, really?" He said with that grin that made my knees go weak. I'm sure he must know that that grin could make a girl forget her name. As much as it affected me, I wanted to hear the story. At first, I thought he might make it up just to stop me feeling embarrassed, but I don't think he would lie to me. I don't know why I felt this connection to him. I had only spent 20 minutes with the guy, but something about him just made me trust him. He seemed to trust me also, or maybe he was just setting me up to destroy me. His not so secret looks made me doubt that he was just doing this to make my embarrassment worse. The way he was so nice, he couldn't be bad, could he?

"Yes, really." I confirmed.

"Well, it's not the great. Are you sure?" I chuckled at his reluctance.

"I want to hear it," I said honestly. "But, if you don't want to, that's fine." I finished, in a disappointed tone.

"It's okay. I said I would and I will, but it's really bad. I think most people have forgotten but it's still pretty fresh in my mind. I don't do gym at school because of this. I skip it."

"Every gym lesson?"

"Yep,"

"Don't the teachers get mad?"

"I think they understand."

"Oh my. It had to be really bad."

"It is. Are you sure you want to know? I don't want you to use it against me or anything?"

"Do you honestly think I would do that?" I said, a little hurt.

"No,"

"Okay then. My lips are sealed. Mom's the word. Can you think of any other clichés?" I giggled.

"I think I've got the picture." He chuckled. He took a deep breath and began.

"Well it was my third day of freshman year. I had moved out here with my parents after finishing middle school and started here for high school. I only knew Emmett who was my brother, but he was a senior. He had one of those personalities that attracted everyone. Every girl was swooning over him, every guy wanted to be like him. He's the popular jock. I used to hate him for that. I wanted that. I was quite shallow. I wanted people to hang out with me because I was the cool guy, not because I was Emmett's brother. But, I got a taste of popularity in my sophomore year. I wasn't that great, and we're good now. He's still the popular guy, but I don't hate him. I admire him. He handles it all so well, and he doesn't let it go to his head. He's very modest about his looks and everything. He's clever as well. Studying to get a full scholarship at college, academically as well. He's pretty amazing. Not that he would let anyone know that. He likes to hide his intelligence. He plays dumb a lot."

"You really love your brother don't you?"

"Yeah. He's good. He got me through a lot."

"That's nice. I wish I had that."

"Are you an only child?" I nodded. "That must have been boring?"

"Not really. I like being by myself."

"Me too." There was a little silence as we looked at each other. We were by the class now. Had we walked all that way, in the crowds of people and not noticed them? That was impossible, right? I never walked through a crowd of people and didn't fall flat on my face. That's amazing. I had to walk with Edward all the time.

"What have you got next?" Edward asked, as we walked into the class and grabbed our stuff. The teacher had gone, and so had all the other students. Thank god.

"I have calculus."

"Do you want to go?" he asked.

"Not really, but I have to. It's my first day and I can't skip. I already walked out of this lesson."

"Okay," he said, sounding a little disappointed. "Can we meet after school?"

"Yes. What do you have next?"

"Trig." He grimaced.

"Have fun!" I said sarcastically.

"Can I walk you to your lesson?" He asked.

"That's probably a good idea. I'm late already, getting lost won't help." He grinned and began to walk towards the door. I grabbed my books and quickly followed.

"So, have we got time to hear the rest of the story, or will it have to wait until after class?"

"After class is probably best." He said.

"You know, you really don't have to tell me. You barely know me, and if all is forgotten by those at school, I can handle not knowing."

"I want to tell you, and I think I know you rather well Isabella."

"Is that so?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"And how is that?"

"I'm a perceptive person. I'll admit you're harder to read that most people but I think I can give it a good shot."

"Okay then. Go for it."

"Well, you're a small town girl. Somewhere cold and wet, probably. You like time to yourself, and are very, very intelligent. You like to read. I'm going to guess by that copy of Wuthering Heights in your hand that it's your favourite. It's a little battered, and had obviously been read quite a few times. Am I right so far?" I nodded and waited for him to continue. "You're not shallow. You're just naturally beautiful. You don't need make up or clothes to show people that. You hide behind your books and hate being the centre of attention."

Wait! Wait! Did he just call me beautiful? Oh My God! He did. Edward thinks I'm beautiful.

"You're a klutz, but I think it's kind of endearing. You blush at almost everything someone says, even when you have no reason to. It adds to the beauty, and make you even more appealing."

"I don't know about that." I wasn't attractive. I didn't appeal to people. I was plain old Bella Swan who buried her head in books and didn't live in the real world. I didn't have friends and I talked to people rarely. I kept myself to myself and that was that.

"You must have noticed all the male attention you've been getting since this morning. If you get taken, many male hearts will break."

"No they won't," I muttered embarrassed.

"Oh they will. I can quite easily say that."

"You're just being nice."

"And truthful."

"If that is what you need to believe."

"It is. And this is your class Miss Swan. Have a lovely lesson. I'll meet you here after. I can't wait to finish my analysis. You'll be surprised at how much I know about you from the 30 minutes we've spent together."

"Okay, I'll see you here." He began to walk away, so I quickly stopped him . "Edward," I called. "Thank you." He simply gave me that crooked grin and walked off. I walked into calculus and apologised for being late. It looked like none of these people were in Biology so I think I was safe here. I told the teacher I got lost, and sat down. I got my notebook out, with the intentions of making notes, but I didn't I just sat there staring at nothing. I wasn't day dreaming or fantasising, I was just there. I was lucky the teacher didn't call on me. I was screwed if he did.

I heard the bell ring, and saw everyone gather up there things. I gathered my things up slowly, giving Edward time to get to the class. I didn't want to be the loser waiting outside of class on my own. I got outside the room and saw Edward leaning up against the wall.

"Hi," I breathed, as I looked him over.

"Hi," he said back. We began to walk, but neither of us said anything more. We got to the car lot and then I realised that him meeting me was no use because we both had separate cars and I would have to go home and so would he.

"What do you want to do? We could drop your truck off and then go get ice cream or something."

"Ice cream?" I giggled.

"What? Do you want something more mature? We could go and get coffee, though I would much prefer ice cream."

"Ice cream is fine." I laughed. "I'll drop my truck off and you can drive. If that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll follow you to your house."

"You're not going to stalk me are you?"

"No," He laughed. "You seem willing; I have no need to watch you against your will."

"Okay," I giggled. "You're right. I am willing."

"Good, I was hoping you would say that." We both walked over to my truck, Edward following me. He knew I had a truck, it had come up when we were talking to each other on our earlier walk, but I don't think he realised how old it was. It was a rusty mess but I loved it. It had character, and it got me from A to B. Most importantly it was cheap. Like free cheap. My dad's best friend can't drive anymore and gave it to Charlie. Charlie has his police cruiser so he just gave it to me. I was strangely overwhelmed when he gave it to me. It was heap of junk, but it was my heap of junk.

"This is terrible," he said.

"No it's not. It may be old, but it runs well enough for me"

"You like this?"

"I love it."

"I'm sorry if I offended you, it's just really old."

"I prefer to think of it as vintage. But you didn't offend me. Everyone says a lot worse things about it."

"Okay, vintage. Nice" He laughed and I joined in. I went to get the door but Edward beat me to it. He opened the door and helped me in. It was very gentlemanly and sweet.

"It's nice to know that chivalry isn't dead."

"I was simply being a gentleman. If I hadn't I'm sure my father would have found out and had me castrated. He holds high opinions on the youth of today. He doesn't like how they are, he think a boy should be the perfect gentleman. Treat a beautiful lady well. And you are a beautiful lady."

"Thanks," I muttered blushing. I was permanently red around him, it was horrible. I closed the door and waited until he went to his car. He had a Volvo. He didn't seem like the Volvo kind of guy, but what did I know. I started the truck and began to exit the lot. I had been completely oblivious to those around me, but I had to pay attention now so I didn't crash. I made sure Edward could see the truck. Not that he could miss it; it was huge and stood out like a sore thumb. I drove home quickly. It was only a five minutes drive, but it was a twenty minutes walk so I chose to drive. Edward followed easily and pulled up outside. I pulled the truck into the drive, and got out. I ran over to Edward and told him I would just explain to my father that I was going out. It would shock him, but he'd get over it. I ran inside dumped my school books and put my cell and money in my pocket.

I ran back outside and climbed into Edwards Volvo. He was playing music, classical I think. It sounded like Debussy. He quickly flicked it off when I got it, and started the engine.

"Ice cream?" He asked with a smile.

"Was that Debussy?" I asked.

"You know about him?"

"Yes, Claire Du Lune is the best."

"It is," he agreed with smile. "Ice cream?" He asked again.

"Sure. You chose where, I don't know town to well yet. I haven't been here long."

"Okay, I know the best place. The ice cream is to die for." He said excitedly.

"You're just a big kid inside, aren't you?"

"When it comes to this ice cream, yes, yes I am and I'm not afraid to admit it." He laughed and began to drive.

"Is it really that good?"

"It really is," he laughed. We drove in silence all the way. It wasn't that far, and it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. It was nice. We got to, what I assumed was the ice cream place and Edward got out. He quickly jogged around to my side of the door and opened it.

"Thank you kind Sir," I mocked.

"You are more than welcome, my lady," he said back, playing along. We walked into the building and it was pretty busy, it must be good. I went to look at the ice cream, but I couldn't choose. There was too much and I was the worst person for making decisions. I couldn't decide what was the best way to get out of bed, let alone anything else. I looked at Edward for advice.

"What's good?" I asked

"Everything,"

"Not helping."

"Erm okay. Well you can go classic or bizarre, which one?"

"Um, classic. I'm going to play it safe."

"Okay. Then I would say vanilla or strawberry."

"Okay, I think I'll go with strawberry."

"Good choice. I'll have that as well." He walked up the counter and got two pots of ice cream. He handed me one and then we went to sit down. I had a little taste, and he was right. This ice cream was to die for.

"What do you think?" he asked, tasting a little of his own.

"It's really good."

"I told you."

"You did." I said, tasting a little more. "So..." I trailed off.

"So... What?" He asked.

"The story?" I reminded him, looking down as I did so. I didn't want to push, but I wanted to know about it. I felt this uncontrollable need to know everything about him. It was unhealthy, to say the least. I had known him for all of a day and I felt so attached. I had no idea why. Why did I feel connected to him? Why did I want to know everything about him? Why did I want to spend time with him so much? It was unhealthy, but I couldn't do a thing about it. I liked this feeling, it was fresh and new. It felt good. I didn't feel alone for once. I had a friend, at least I hoped I did.

"Oh," He said. "Okay. Where did we get to before?"

"Just that you skip gym all the time."

"Right. Well it was a few days into my freshman year and we had gym for the first time. When we went to change I realised that I must have picked up Emmett's gym clothes. I couldn't do anything about it, so I got changed into them. I was too scared to tell the teacher. I thought it sounded like a poor excuse."

"What's so wrong with wearing your brother's gym clothes?"

"You haven't seen Emmett have you?" he asked rhetorically. "Well, he's a big guy. Like huge. He's like twice the size of me, and well I was small back then, so it was even worse."

"Oh," I said. I was feeling smart today, I thought sarcastically.

"Yeah" he chuckled. "I put them on and tried to do the shorts up as much as I could. I pulled the strings pretty tight. They seemed secure enough. I got out into the courts and we were playing basketball. I thought I would take it slow, just in case they came a little loose. I looked like a right idiot. I was wearing a top double my size and the shorts were half way down my shins."

"Aww!" I said, imagining it. "I bet it was cute."

"It was anything but cute." He said bitterly. "But, anyway. I got really into the game and forgot about the shorts. I was about to make a basket, when it happened." He paused, seeing if I caught on. "They came really loose, and before I could get my hands to keep them up, they fell down. In front of the entire class. Not only that, but everyone in that class was in all my other class. It wasn't until sophomore year, when I spent the summer filling out, that I stopped being that guy. The guy that exposed himself to the school. It was one of the worst moments ever. It's funny to look back on now, but at the time I thought I would die from embarrassment. I spent all my time with Emmett so my class mates wouldn't pummel me."

"Oh, that must have been horrible. I can't even imagine..." I trailed off. I had a habit of doing that. I couldn't think of what to say. I hoped I could convey how sorry I was for him.

"You can laugh if you want to."

"Why would I laugh?"

"Most people do. My dad walked out of the room when I told him so he didn't laugh in my face. Emmett wasn't so kind, he laughed in my face."

"That's horrible."

"Not really," he shrugged "I would have done the same to anyone who told me the story."

"Is that why you came to see if I was okay?"

"Yes and no" he answered.

"And no?" I questioned.

"It's nothing," he defended, looking down at his ice cream.

"Please?" I asked.

"It's nothing, Bella." He said curtly.

"Okay," I said. It shouldn't have hurt, but it did. He was being so open with me and now he just cut me off. I don't know why he did. It's not like it was anything personal. It was a simple question. I only wanted to know why he came after me. Could I not know that?

We finished our ice cream in silence and we both got up to leave. We hadn't said another word since that. It was awkward now, and I hated it. Maybe that friend idea had gone straight out of the window. We reached the Volvo and he opened my door again, but he didn't say anything this time. He got in a began to drive in the direction of my house. There was a shift in the air, and it was horrible.

He pulled up outside my house and I began to get out. He looked straight ahead and didn't even look at me when I muttered my goodbye. I quickly slammed the door shut and walked towards my house. I felt my eyes began to fill with tears. I managed to get inside before any fell. This had been one of the best and worst days ever. As I closed the front door, I heard the car pull away. I quickly said hello to Elizabeth and went to my room. My aunt was a woman of few words and didn't even enquire as to where I had been. He trusted me. Most people would be grateful for that, but I wanted that. I wanted my parents to care, or at least show that they cared. I knew they loved me, but they had no idea how to show it. I had always taken care of my mother. I moved because I couldn't handle it anymore. I took care of my aunt, though not nearly as much as my mom.

I sunk down onto my bed and pulled my shoes off. What had changed? One minute he was fine, and then he just snapped. Was that normal? I had little experience in the social world but I knew that people didn't change like that. I had had some interaction with people. I laid on top of my covers, still in my clothes and coat and fell asleep. My dreams were plagued with happy sadness. Edward filled them but they prominently featured the change in his behaviour only the extent of it was much worse. He was meaner, and violent, and just horrid. My imagination got away with me, and at some point in the night I screamed myself awake. I must have scared Charlie half to death. I commonly had nightmares, but I never screamed about them. I normally slept through them all, but with him in them I couldn't. Having that connection broken terrified me. It was stupid, and I knew it. Why did I feel such a connection to a boy that I had known only for a day? This question plagued my mind as I drifted back into sleep.

Why?

Why? Indeed.
Stay tuned to find out.
Read and review (if you would like to, Edward would like you to.)
Sarah x