The school week went by faster than I thought possible. Everyone finally got the hint that I wanted to be left alone and stopped trying to bring me out of my shell. I managed to sit by myself in all of my classes, and felt at least partially at peace. Until Thursday.

I was sitting in biology, staring out the window. All of a sudden a notebook was dropped next to me and I jumped. I looked up to Edward, smirking at me and taking the seat next to me, "Awfully jumpy aren't you?"

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

Edward looked at me as though I had 3 heads, "This is my biology class too."

"You weren't here all week."

"I know. I don't come very often," He looked at me expectantly, obviously waiting for more questions but I turned to look at the board instead. Again, I felt his obvious frustration at my lack of social skills, but all I really wanted was to be left alone. I was damaged. I didn't want to be around anyone. All of a sudden I was aware the teacher was speaking to me, "Ms. Swan?"

"Yes?"

"Is that ok?"

". . .is what ok?" I felt myself turning red as several students snickered.

"Is it alright if you work on the project with Mr. Cullen?"

"Oh. Yes. Project. Right. Yeah that's fine." I looked over at Edward who was studying me, and felt myself turning even redder, "Maybe you can tell me what the project is about."

He smirked at me, "Fine. Do you want to start working on it tonight? I was thinking you could come over around dinner and we could get started."

I felt my heart speed up and could feel my palms start to sweat. "Calm down, there's nothing wrong with Edward. He probably doesn't want to work on this together any more than you do," I thought to myself. "Yeah sure."

"Alright," he wrote his address on a piece of paper and passed it to me.

Class was out and I got up to leave. I skipped gym altogether. I was too much of a wreck to go. I berated myself for being so nervous about going over to his house. I had no reason to be afraid of him, he had given no indication of wanting to hurt me. I just hadn't been alone with any man but Charlie since. . .but I wouldn't allow myself to think about it.

All too soon it was time to go over to Edward's. I pulled the address out of my pocket, trying to ignore my shaking hand. I slowly gathered my school supplies and drove over to his house. I tried to go as slowly as possible, but all of a sudden I came to the narrow path, and turned onto the dirt road. I was beginning to wonder if maybe I'd taken a wrong turn when the house came into view. It was huge, and beautiful. Straight out of a fairy tale. I couldn't believe he lived here. I parked out front and shut my truck off, trying to take deep breaths to calm myself. I walked up the porch, my whole body screaming at me to run, but I forced myself to keep going. I knocked gently on the door, and was relieved when a beautiful younger woman answered the door. She gave me a warm smile and I immediately felt better than I had, "Hello, you must be Bella. My name is Esme, I'm Edward's mother."

Mother? He must be adopted. She was far too young looking to have a child in high school, "Yeah, hi it's nice to meet you," I strove to be friendly, even though for the last few years I had avoided it.

She led me into the house and I was awed at how beautiful the inside was as well. She pointed me in the direction of the stairs and said Edward was in his room. I again felt my nerves returning but ignored them. I made my way slowly upstairs, when all of a sudden I heard music. Clair De Lune. It was beautiful and I was curious. I began walking faster. The door was part way open so I pushed it farther and looked in, only to see Edward at the piano. He was making that beautiful music? I was shocked. I watched, entranced. He seemed incredibly sad. I couldn't understand why. If I could make music like that, I didn't think I'd ever be unhappy again. All too soon the song was over, and he looked up, surprised to see me there. I felt myself blushing, "I'm sorry. The door was open and I heard the music. . ."

"It's fine," but he seemed anything but fine. It was like a wall had gone up. I wanted to take it down.

"How long have you-"

"Let's get started on the project."

Without waiting for my response he brushed past me and entered his room. I followed him and was again shocked at the beauty of it. It was so light. There was a large bed, and a wall of music. I wanted to bask in it, but Edward had quickly jumped onto his bed and pulled out his book, all the while explaining the project to me. I froze at the bed. The last thing I wanted was to sit on it. There was a desk, but it was too far from the bed for me to sit on it. It would've been rude. I slowly sat down on the bed, trying to put as much distance as I could without it being awkward. Edward obviously didn't understand because he scooted closer immediately to show some ideas he had for the project. I was tense. I tried to calm down, I didn't want him to think I was a freak. He either didn't notice, or was too polite to say anything. I began to relax, and we both got to work on the project. We worked in silence, until he finally spoke, "So how are you liking Forks?"

"It's alright. A little rainy and cold."

"Yes, I could see that being hard. Why did you move here anyways?"

I froze. I hadn't thought of what I would tell people. I hadn't planned on talking to anyone so I had never considered it, "Uhm. . ."

"I heard there was an accident. . ."

"What?" I felt the blood drain from my face, and a panic attack coming on.

Edward froze and studied my face, obviously realizing he'd made an error, "I just, heard that your mother and step father were in a car accident. . .I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up."

I immediately felt the color return to my face, of course Charlie would have told people about the car accident. How could he not? "Yes. That's what happened. Sorry."

"No I shouldn't have brought it up. It was rude."

"It's fine. What about you?" I asked, hoping to deflect attention from myself.

"What about me?"

"Well. Esme said she was your mother. . ."

"And?" I felt the wall coming back.

"And she's obviously too young to be your real mother."

"My parents are dead too."

"I'm sorry to hear that," and I was. I found myself feeling pity for him, "How did they die?"

"It was an accident. Like your parents."

I remained silent after that. Contemplating this. I felt there was more to it than just an accident. There definitely was where my parents were concerned. I knew he didn't want to talk about it though so I shut up and continued working on the project. Soon it was dark and we both agreed to call it a night. Edward walked me downstairs, where I met his doctor father, also stunning. The whole family made me feel so plain. I had never met anyone like them. Edward walked me to the door, I stepped out onto the porch and turned to look at him. He had a contemplative look on his face, as though he were debating asking me something. It was gone before I could say anything, and all he said was he'd see me tomorrow. As I drove home, I couldn't help feeling like I was missing something about him. I just couldn't put my finger on it.