A/N

Hey! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! This is where things start to drift a little more from the real story. I'd love it if you guys gave me feedback on this chapter.

Mel

I WISH I owned Twilight… particularly Edward… but I don't. Sigh

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The rest of my first day of class was uneventful. My biology teacher assigned me to a lab table, and whoever it was that normally sat in the other chair never showed up for class. Mike took that spot instead, using this chance to try to talk to me. He didn't have much luck, though. I wasn't being the most responsive person. I was naturally on the quiet side, but my mind was elsewhere, anyway.

I just couldn't stop thinking about that kid with the rusty hair and the black eyes. I knew I shouldn't be bothered by what a complete stranger thought of me, but I was. That sort of thing always bothered me. What had I done wrong? He'd looked like he was on the verge of having a fit. It didn't make sense.

When the day was over and I went back home, I let myself think through my day, critiquing myself. I knew I wasn't supposed to do this, because it indulged my anxieties, but since it was my first day somewhere knew, I felt like I should be granted this one pardon.

The next day I was for the most part a less anxious because I knew what to expect. The only thing that worried me was that I might see Edward, and that he'd again have something against me.

I parked my truck in the school parking lot. There were fifteen minutes left before classes started, so most of the students were just starting to head inside. I grabbed my backpack and slid out of the car, stumbling a little when the force of the backpack fell off the seat and onto my back. No one saw me, though, so I slammed my door shut and headed to go inside.

"Bella!" I heard someone call. I turned to search for the sound and saw Angela standing by a rusted Camry, waving at me.

"Oh, hey," I answered, making my way over to her. She was pulling a couple books out of the back seat of her car.

"Ready for your second day?" she asked, her voice soft.

"Well if I'm not I guess I'm in trouble."

Angela smiled. "Yeah, that wouldn't be good," she agreed.

I wanted to ask her more about the Cullens, Edward in particular. She would know them better than me, so maybe she'd have a better idea of why he'd been so furious to see me. I decided not to, figuring I could ask later if the same thing happened today.

"You're in English with me, first," Angela mentioned. Was she? I hadn't exactly been paying much attention during that first class yesterday. Even if I had seen her I probably wouldn't have recognized that it was her, but I guess she'd figured as much.

"Oh, great," I sighed, glad I would have someone to talk to. She was so much easier to be around than Mike or Eric. That could be because she was a girl, since I was still tragically intimidated by most guys. For the most part, that was my biggest problem left. Talking to guys made my knees shake and my mouth go dry.

Angela also seemed so much kinder than the rest of the people I'd met. Jessica and Lauren came off as really catty and opinionated. They were the kind of people I sometimes avoided. Angela, on the other hand, seemed so much sweeter. She was more the sort of person I would hang out with than anyone else I knew in Forks.

Lunch was fairly uneventful on my second day. Edward wasn't there to join the rest of the Cullens, so I was much more relaxed. I did wonder about him, though. Why wasn't he there? Had he gotten sick? Could it have something to do with me?

Of course, it was silly of me—or maybe it was more conceited—to even consider that I might have anything to do with his absence. I was letting my anxiety-driven mind get out of hand again. I was always doing that. I always let myself think up these delusional thoughts about how people thought poorly of me. That was exactly the sort of thing I had to stop.

I don't think I talked much at lunch. It exhausted me. Being social was always a little tiring to me, but when the people were unfamiliar it was so much worse. If I kept this up I might lose my chance to make any friends. I was going to have to start talking more.

When lunch ended, I left the cafeteria again with Mike, who talked up a storm on the way to class. This time, I jumped right on in, holding up my side of the conversation.

Inside the biology room, I took my assigned seat, and Mike again took the empty seat next to me, no doubt planning on staying there until the teacher walked up to the front of the room.

"Yeah, I heard that we're going to be taking a field trip to Olympic National Park at some point this year in here," Mike said, animatedly.

"Really?" I asked, horrified. I did not mesh well with hiking. I'd learned that long ago and avoided it when I could. "Why? For what?"

"For this class. It will be great," he explained, oblivious to my reaction, "We'll be gone the whole day and miss our other classes. I think we're going to be doing some hands on stuff with the plants or something."

"Why not go to an arboretum, then?" I asked, wishing we had that alternative. Arboretums were safe and just as interesting as far as I was concerned.

"What fun is that? You ever hiked before?"

"A long time ago," I told him, honestly.

"See, you just need to try it again."

I didn't respond to that. I definitely didn't feel like I needed to try hiking again, not when I was sure to end up flat on my face.

"Well if you don't have any good boots for it you should stop by my parents' store. We own Newton's Outfitters. I can get you a discount."

Great.

"Well… thanks," I said, really hoping I wouldn't have to take him up on his offer. Maybe there would be a way I could miss the trip and do a replacement assignment instead.

It was at this point that we heard someone clear his throat. I looked up in time to see Edward Cullen reach my lab table.

"I believe this is my seat," he said, his voice ringing clear and smooth.

You have got to be kidding me.

Mike turned to me again, an apologetic expression on his face. He didn't want to leave. If the alternative was that I had to sit next to Edward then I didn't want him to leave either.

"Stop by sometime," Mike said, smiling. I wouldn't get his hopes up on that.

Mike stood up and sulked over to his table a few rows behind mine. The moment he was gone I turned to face the front of the classroom, hiding my face from Edward as he set his bag on the table and took his seat.

My face flushed as Edward scooted his chair in and glanced over at me. I made a point of not looking at him. I didn't want to look over and see the same hatred fill his perfect face. I bet he wished he could sit anywhere else more than I did.

Stop it! He has no reason not to like you. You're letting your mind get carried away. That's it.

"Did I miss anything yesterday?" he asked, his voice tense and cold, but beautiful nonetheless.

My head automatically whipped over in his direction. He looked just as stiff as he sounded. His chair was scooted as far away from mine as was possible, and it looked like he was trying hard not to look at me, either. Once again his hands were gripping the table. I immediately remembered the way he'd snapped off a piece of his cafeteria table the day before as easily as I could snap a twig. I wondered if that would happen again.

"Not really," I answered, my voice soft.

There was something very strange about the way he was sitting. It took me a moment figure out what it was, but then the answer was so obvious. He wasn't moving. At all. He looked like a statue.

My face reddened again and I turned to face the front of the room. The two of us sat there, unmoving, until class began. Edward was much better at not moving than I was, though. Maybe it was just because I fidget a lot when I'm nervous.

Once the bell signaling the end of the class rang I turned to the side to reach my backpack and slid the zipper open. By the time I had turned back to the front of the room to grab my biology textbook, Edward was no longer sitting next to me. The door to the room was swinging shut. Everyone else in the room was gathering their stuff together.

How did he do that?

There wasn't much that happened the rest of my first week of classes. Every day, I got to school and met up with Angela. The two of us would go to English together. Next was Trig with Jessica, who I usually didn't talk to all that much, and then Spanish.

Come lunch I sat with the same group of people, and I always, without exception, caught myself glancing over to the Cullens' table. I was always a little afraid Edward would be glaring at me, but he never was. His blonde sister, on the other hand—I think her name was Rosalie—had taken to looking over my way a few times, disapproval always evident on her angelic face.

Before biology, Mike and I would talk about whatever he wanted to talk about. I never tried to steer the conversation. Edward would arrive a few minutes into the conversation, signaling for Mike to go to his real table. That marked the start of the tense silence between Edward and me. One of those days, I found myself shaking a little. I'd had problems with social anxiety for years, but never had I been so sure of someone's disapproval of me. It was one of my biggest fears, and thanks to Edward it was fulfilled.

The weekend had been much better than the school week. Angela had called me to say that a bunch of people from our school were going to get together to watch a movie that night.

"It will be fun," she assured me. "We'll probably pop some popcorn… maybe tell ghost stories or something."

"I don't know…" I answered uncertainly. I was actually a bit intimidated by the idea of it. "I'm not sure if I can make it."

"Oh." Angela sounded disappointed. I had a feeling that she knew I had no good excuse not to go. I really felt bad about that because I would have liked to hang out with her, but I wasn't sure if I was ready yet to hang out with so many people that I'd only known for, what, six days? That was a lot to take.

"Maybe we can do something before you head over there, though?" I suggested. I might not have wanted to be surrounded by people, but I didn't want to be a hermit, either.

"Yeah, sure," Angela said, sounding a little more energized. "Like what?"

"I don't know. What is there to do around here?"

"Not much," Angela laughed. "If you want to do something good you usually have to go to Port Angeles. Unless you like hiking through the woods there isn't a lot to do here."

"Then how about you come over here?" I suggested.

"Yeah. When do you want me over?"

"Whenever. You can come now if you want. I've got nothing going on here."

I heard Charlie come down the stairs at this point, whistling some upbeat tune. When he saw I was on the phone he stopped and headed over to the fridge.

"I might be half an hour," she said. "I've got to finish my English essay now if I'm going to be gone all day."

"That's fine. Do you know where I live?" I knew it was a small town and that there were no secrets, but I wasn't sure if where I lived was considered common knowledge or not.

"Yeah, I think so. I know essentially where you live and I know what your house looks like. I'll manage."

"Alright, then. I'll see you soon."

When I hung up the phone, Charlie was standing by the microwave, heating up a frozen dinner. "So you've got someone coming over?" he asked me, leaning against the counter. He seemed cheered by the idea.

"Yup. Angela's coming over in a bit."

"Weber?" he questioned me.

"Yeah. I've got a few classes with her," I explained.

"A nice girl," he commented softly and then paused for a moment. "So if I head out today, then, you'll be fine?" he asked uncertainly.

"Mmhmm. Where are you going?"

"I fish with Billy a lot on the weekends. It's not a huge deal. I can stay home if you ever need me to."

"Well you don't need to today," I insisted. "Really." Even once Angela left, if Charlie wasn't back by then it would be nice to have the house to myself for a little while.

"Okay, Bells. I'm just grabbing a quick bite and then I'll be out of your hair."

I went back up to my room until Angela arrived so I could work on my English essay. I knew I wasn't going to finish it right then, but that was part of the beauty of not joining her to watch movies. I'd be able to finish it and the rest of my homework once she left and then have the rest of the weekend to relax.

True to her word, Angela knocked on my door nearly exactly 30 minutes after I had hung up with her. I gave her a brief tour of my house and then we went up in my room for a while. I put some music in my CD player and the two of us lounged around on my bed and talked about some of the most random things. It was just so easy to be friends with her.

At one point, Angela admitted to having a crush on this one guy who, honestly, I couldn't remember. His name was Ben.

"Honestly, you probably won't have much trouble finding him. He's kind of short. I'm actually taller than him," she told me, her lips pulling into a bashful smile. Ah, the drawbacks of being tall. I most likely would never have that problem.

"Well maybe you'll have to point him out to me, then," I suggested.

"Yeah. You'll probably see him on Monday," she thought out loud. "Has anyone caught your attention?"

The truth was that someone had, but not really in the way she meant. I thought about Edward Cullen a lot, just not romantically. "I'm not sure," I admitted. "I'm not really looking for anyone, though." Honestly, as much as I dreamed about finding a guy I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to handle it too well.

Angela's expression turned understanding. Sometimes I wondered whether she could pick up more than I was saying out loud, but then again my mom had always told me that I was an open book.

"Though I do have a question about someone at school."

"Alright."

"Is Edward always so—cold? I get the feeling that he hates me."

Angela's eyebrows knit together. "Really? That's weird."

"So he's nice to you, then?" I asked, discouraged. Clearly his scowl was saved for me.

"Well, not exactly. He's really," Angela paused to think of the right word, "cordial. He's gentlemanly or something, I don't know, but he doesn't go past that. He doesn't really talk to anyone outside of his family."

"Does he try to keep away from you?"

"Edward does that?" Angela asked, surprised. I nodded. "No. I've never seen him do a single rude thing ever. He just makes polite small talk."

"Maybe I'm just misinterpreting something," I suggested. I didn't really believe it though.

"Yeah, maybe." Angela seemed more likely to believe this.

One thing was certain. Whatever it was that made Edward so angry and tense was entirely exclusive to me.

A/N: I hope you liked the second chapter! I will love you guys forever if you write a review or give me some sort of feedback! Next chapter, you'll get to see Edward and Bella's first real conversation. Depending on how long that part is, I might write a little from Edward's perspective. We shall see!

If any of you guys are into writing, let me know. I'm trying to create a role-play site for Twilight. It will start from the very beginning of the first book, and all the characters will have the same histories and personalities as the ones in the book. The only difference is that the RPers will get to make the plot go the way they want. I'm playing Edward, by the way. I want to dazzle people!

If I hear that people are interested I'll post a link for the site on my next chapter (which should be soon seeing as how I've been writing a lot lately!)