Disclaimer: I do not own twilight, life and death, or any of its characters.

Hello again, I'm sorry for how long I took to update this but college has been keeping me on my toes, and it's only going to get worse since my tests are beginning now. Anyway, as to the reviews:

Shhay, TwihardsOfManhattan and 'Guest': thank you, seriously, and I will try to get new, better chapters as soon as possible

RuthCullen: Will try and make an interesting dynamic, don't worry

EDY BEAU 4EVER: absolutely, life and death ftw :D

Well, I guess that's it, here we go!

Chapter 2

I still had a lot to do at home, which was good as it kept me from thinking about today's events. I vacuumed the entire house, dusted off manually the areas the vacuum cleaner couldn't reach, washed the bathroom, the kitchen and the garage, and mowed the small lawn. Done with the house cleaning I washed the car, organized the entire place in a manner that made sense (I was quite methodical with these sort of things), did the few homework I had and made the dinner. When I finished eating was about 9 p.m., I headed to my room, opened the laptop I've brought from Brazil, and started to write an e-mail.

Dear mom and dad

Sorry for not writing you before, I was exhausted when I got here yesterday and, today, I've been busy cleaning the house since I got home from school. Everything is fine, the flight here was tiring but not stressful, not much turbulence. The house is great, small, perfect for me since I don't need space and its size makes it easier to keep clean. Could you thank grandpa again for the car? I loved it!

Everyone here is really polite and welcoming, I've made a few friends today. The school is easy because, besides for the parts that are specific from the U.S. (like national history, government and literature), I've already had, no my previous school, what they are teaching now (maybe you could send me some of my notes that I left there?).

Anyway, I really miss you and want to make a video call as soon as possible (but I know we will have to coordinate due to the time difference).

See you soon, love, Beau.

I felt heavy hearted as clicked on send, and, trying to put that aside, I sat in front of the tv. Hopefully something on it would be able to distract me.

The following day was a blur. I kept myself busy with the school activities, trying not to think in a certain bronze-haired girl. I mustn't be that shacked by someone I barely even know, just due to her looks. It was seriously stupid. Yet, she was never too far off my thoughts. For a moment or two I planned to go face her an ask if she had something against me. But I knew myself well enough, I wouldn't do that. Entering the cafeteria, I couldn't help but to turn my eyes to her table. She wasn't there. WE were late to lunch, the teacher had held us back to finish explaining an exercise, so the place was already full. Her family was on the same table as yesterday, only this time there were four of them, she and her brother were nowhere to be found. She didn't show up for biology either. My rational side argued against it, but I still had a feeling I was the reason for her absence. No, it was impossible. I was not interesting enough to cause something like that.

The rest of the week proceeded without many interesting events. I became friends with Bella, Jessica and her group, and had lunch at their table every day, spoke with my parents a few times via video call and joined forces with Bella to cause as many accidents as possible during P.E., or, at least, that's how it seemed. Edythe didn't show up again, nor did Edward. Every day my eyes jumped to their table as soon as I walked past the cafeteria's doors, and every day I saw only four people there, she not being one of them. I got a little disappointed every time, cursing myself for it, as it was completely stupid and idiotic. Doesn't matter how gorgeous she was. It was an illusion, not reality. During the weekend I did another cleanup on the house, and could see it turning into an Saturday activity, I had some OCD-tendencies when it came to cleaning and organizing stuff.

Monday came and I was a lot more comfortable on the small town. I began to really enjoy my new friends company, and I was picking up pretty quick the subjects I didn't have in Brazil.

When we walked out of class the air was full of swirling bits of white. The cold bit my face.

"Wow" said a guy named Mike that was part of our group "It's snowing"

'Ok... this could be a problem'

"Ew" everyone looked at Bella, surprised

"Don't you like snow?" asked Mike

"No. That means it's too cold to rain. Besides, I thought it was supposed to come down in flakes – you know, each one is unique and all that. These just look like the ends of Q-tips"

"Haven't you ever seen snow fall before?"

"Sure I have... on tv"

Mike laugher and a big ball of dripping snow smacked into the back of his head. As we turned to see where it came from, Eric was suspiciously walking away, on the opposite direction to his next class. Mike bent down and began to form a ball with a pile of white mush.

"I'll see you at lunch okay?" Asked Bella as she kept walking "Once people start throwing wet stuff, I go inside"

He just nodded and, since spending the rest of the day wet, cold and with melting pieces of ice thorough my clothes was NOT on my to-do list, I went with her.

We walked to the cafeteria and I didn't expect anything when I looked to the Cullen table, however, this time, six people were sitting there. My stomach made a flip. 'Okay, so she is back. No big deal. It doesn't change anything'. Grabbed some food and walked to my usual table, sitting between Bella and Jessica. I permitted myself one glance at the Cullen family. I turned my eyes more rather than my head, trying to hide the action, but I knew I mustn't have been successful at it.

They were laughing. Edythe, Edward, Jasper and Emmet had their hair entirely saturated with melting snow. Alice and Rosalie were leaning away as Emmet shook his dripping hair toward them. They were enjoying the snow day, just like everyone else – only they looked more like a scene from a movie than the rest of us.

But, even aside from the laughter and playfulness, inexistent any other time I saw the family, there was something different, and I couldn't pinpoint what it was. I examined Edythe more carefully. Her skin was less pale, probably a result of the snow fight, and the circles under her eyes were less noticeable too, but that wasn't it.

My line of thought was interrupted.

"Hey! You two! Bella, Beau, what are you staring at?" Jessica asked, her eyes running across the cafeteria.

At that moment, as if hearing something, her eyes flashed to meet mine.

I dropped my head as fast as I could, but was still able to notice some things: one, someone at her side moved just like her, two, there was a severe lack of killing intent today. She looked seemed merely curious, unsatisfied in some way.

"Ho-ho! You guys are getting some stares. Edward AND Edythe Cullen" Jessica giggled to us and I noticed Bella also had her head down.

"He/She doesn't look angry, does he/she?" We said at the same time.

"No" she got a little confused "Should they?"

Bella and I trade a strange look. 'Now, what is THIS? Has something like that happened to her too? Is it a family thing or what?"

"I don't think he likes me" said Bella and put her head on her arm.

"Uh... yeah, same" I managed to say after a second

"The Cullens don't like anybody... Well, they don't notice anybody enough to like them. But they're still staring at you"

"Stop looking at them" Bella hissed

Jessica snickered but obeyed.

Mike interrupted us them – he was planning an epic battle of the blizzard in the parking lot after school and wanted us to join. Jessica agreed enthusiastically, and then started to try and convince me to go too. I actually agreed at that, being it after school I could just go home take a hot shower when it was over, instead of having to deal with hours of wet cold clothes. Bella on the other hand were suspiciously quiet during the whole conversation.

However, when we went to the door, everyone besides me and Bella groaned in unison. It was raining, washing all traces of snow away in clear icy ribbons down the side of the walkway. I pulled my hood up. It was a shame for the snow fight, but I still was secretly pleased with the rain.

The next class passed by really fast as I was more focused on how the Biology class would be. Soon enough I was passing through the lab's doors, pleased to see my table was still empty. Mr. Banner was walking around the room, distributing a microscope and a box of slide to each desk. I kept my eyes away from the door, drawing lazily on my notebook. It was far being my best work, but it was decent. A simple landscape, a single tree ruled the forefront while a peaceful-looking lake hid behind it, the beginning of a forest could be seen at the other side of the lake, and its reflection appeared on the surface. I've been working on that for the past few days whenever I was bored during a class. I was putting some finishing details on the shadowing and water reflection when I heard the chair next to me be moved. My eyes stayed carefully focused on the drawing.

"Hello", said a musical voice.

I looked up, stunned she was speaking to me. She was sitting as far away as the desk allowed, but the chair was turned towards me. Her face was friendly, a slight dimpled-smile on her flawless lips. But her eyes were careful.

"My name is Edythe Cullen" she continued "I didn't have the chance to introduce myself last week. You are Beau Stark, right?"

My head was chaos. Did I make up the whole thing last week? Was I getting crazy? She was perfectly polite now.

"Uh... Yes, that's right. Nice to meet you"

I was desperately trying to find something to say, but, apparently, I had lost all my ability to make small talk. Thankfully, Mr. Banner started class at that moment. He explained the lab we would be doing today. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip he had given us into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. We weren't supposed to use our books or personal notes. In twenty minutes he would be coming around to see who had it right.

"Get started" he commanded

"So, ladies first?" I asked Edythe, hoping I didn't look as the idiot I was feeling like.

She let out a small short laugh "Sure, I'll go ahead"

She prepared the microscope with the first slide and studied it for 10 seconds at best before saying "Prophase" and handing it to me "Wanna check?"

"Okay" It wasn't hard, Biology might not be among my favorite subjects, but I had done this experiment before. Still, I took a bit longer than her "Prophase, you are right"

I took the slide out, snapped the second and analyzed it shortly

"Interphase" I turned the microscope to her and took advantage of the time she took looking at it to stare. I thought that, this close, one would be able to notice something, a small scar, a pimple, something. Any imperfection. But I was wrong, there was nothing.

"Interphase" she agreed "Slide three?" She held her hand and I gave it to her.

Our hands touched and I was shocked, I mean, I was surprised about how cold her hand was and all, but more than that, I was literally shocked. It was as if some kind of electricity passed through us. I made my best not to pull out my hand or anything, but my face must have slipped something as she gave me a concerned look.

She quickly prepared the slide and examined it.

"Anaphase"

She wrote it down and handwriting was amazing. Clear and elegant, the kind you see on ancient official documents, written carefully to guarantee the alliance of two nations.

We were finished before anyone else was even close, which left me with nothing to do but unsuccessfully try not to look at her. I decided to return to my drawing, but once I glared up at her I noticed she was staring at me, not with rage, with what seemed to be frustration. Suddenly I identified that difference on her face. Her eyes were no longer black as obsidians, the were a strange ocher, darker than butterscotch, but with the same golden tone.

"Are you wearing contacts?" I asked completely out of the blue.

She seemed to find my question funny "No".

"Were you wearing any last week? I was sure your eyes were black"

Said eyes suddenly widened, but she hid her expression right away

"oh, yes, I like to put them on every once in a while"

She shrugged and looked away.

I turned to my notebook again, again unable to maintain a normal conversation.

Mr. Banner came to our table, to see why we weren't working. He looked over my shoulders to glance at the completed lab, and then stared more intently to check the answers.

"So, Edythe..." he started, but, before being able to finish she said

"Beau identified three of the five"

Mr. Banner now, skeptically, looked at me

"Have you done this experiment before?" He asked

I gave him a shy smile

"About six months ago. My high school had an advanced program as a preparation for the 'vestibulares', the brazilian version of the SATs"

Mr. Banner nodded "Unf, guess you two will make good partners then". He mumbled something else as he walked away.

I was about to start drawing again when Edythe spoke

"It's too bad about the snow, isn't it?"

"Well... actually no. Not really"

"You don't like the cold" it wasn't a question

"It's not the cold, that I enjoy. I was even supposed to take part on a snow fight" I smiled slightly

"What then?" She seemed a bit surprised

"Well, I've never seen snow before and I'm not really confident about driving at a road full office without at least putting some chains on my tires or something. I heard people do that to improve the friction with the ice"

"Oh, yes, they do" she paused for a few seconds "So, never seen snow? Well, you are brazilian after all. So how are you enjoying Forks's weather? Missing the sun yet?" She had a provocative smile

"No, not really. I actually like the clouds and rain. It's a lot better than almost overheating at a school classroom with no air conditioned and getting sun burns every time I go outside for more than 5 minutes"

She was looking funny at me

"Were the clouds the main reason for your moving?"

"No, but it's kind of complicated"

"I'm sure I can keep up" I sighted, was I really about to explain my boring life to that bizarre, gorgeous girl that may, or may not hate me?

"My parents made me come here to have a better chance at a good American college. My grandparents still own a house back here, so it was the best place to come" She seemed to notice, by my tone, that I wasn't pleased with it

"That doesn't sound so complex. What, you didn't want to leave your friends behind?"

"I only have one truly good friend back there, her name is Giane, and I mostly spoke to her via the internet anyway since she moved to another town, so that is not the issue"

"Your family than?"

"I do miss them. But it's not that hard, we talk all the time via video calls, and it's nice to live alone for a change, they can become a bit smothering" I laughed a bit at the end

Now she seemed confused "Immigration problems? Too much headache?" She didn't seem confident about this supposition

"Nope, I have an American citizenship. My mother is American, she was born in New York, and so are my grandparents on my father's side (they are the ones that lived in Forks)"

"Okay, I'm lost" she didn't seem pleased with admitting that

"We are not rich, and dollars are worth three times the brazilian coin. It's not that easy for them to maintain me here. I insisted on getting a job here but they refused. Even prohibited me to. They are stubborn and a bit prideful. I know they want me to have more time to study and all, but the situation makes me uncomfortable."

"Hum... interesting" she kept watching me with that frustration look on her eyes. I must have bored her, but she was the one that pressed so much for the whole story.

"Sorry, am I annoying you?" I asked

She smiled slightly "No. I'm annoyed with myself. I can't really read you"

"You must be a good reader than"

"Usually" She smiled widely, her dimples greeting me. All coherent thoughts left my mind.

Mr. Banner called the class to order and I turned with relief to listen. I wasn't confident on my ability to say words in this moment.

I was almost believing that I had imagined what happened last week, but now I could see, from the corner of my eye, that she was leaning away from me again, her hands gripping the edge of the table with unmistakable tension.

When the bell rang, Edythe rushed as swiftly and gracefully from the room as she had last Monday.

I met with Bella and Mike on my way to Gym. P.E. passed as usual, a few accidents caused by either Bella or myself.

The rain was just a mist when we got to the parking lot, but the ice and snow were long gone. I got to my Camaro and began to make my way home, but changed course before getting there. It would be best if I bought some chains for my tires now, there was a good chance that tomorrow would be snowy too.