Hey everyone!!! Once more, neither of us are Stephanie Meyer *SOB* and do not own Twilight anything (well, we do have the books!!!). Well, anyway, anyway, anyway, here's Chapter 2!!!!

Alicia and Megan

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Chapter 2
"Alice, is he coming back soon?" I asked for the eighty-fourth time in the past six days Edward had been in Denali.

She stared at the wall for a minute then said, "Yes. Tonight."

My heart leaped with joy. He was coming back! I missed him much more than I should have. He was more than a friend; he was a brother, a son, very much like my own. He died hundreds of years ago, but that never stopped me from missing him and my family.

I had to hide my happiness and save it for later, the humans surrounding us in the English classroom would have definitely noticed the change in my mood; I had been slightly depressed with Edward gone.

The rest of the day sped by faster than any other I had existed.

When the bell released me from my last class, I walked as fast as I could while still looking human to the shiny Volvo waiting for me. I got in and the rest of my family did too. I couldn't hide my excitement any more.

Edward's coming back! I thought, a grin on my face.

I pulled out of the parking lot and drove to our house standing solitary in the woods.

"Edward's coming back home." Alice said as I sped down the highway, nearly as happy as I was.

"Excellent, I can challenge him to a rematch." Emmett was still upset Edward had beat him in an arm wrestling match before he left, and he had already got his revenge on Jasper.

I looked at Rosalie in the rear view mirror. She was acting indifferent to our brother coming back.

"Come on Rose, you know you missed him!" Alice said. Rose just glared at her.

I pulled up into the garage and parked in between my Camero and Rosalie's BMW.

Alice and I bounded into the house, surprising Esme in the sitting room.

"Edward's coming home!" We said simultaneously.

Esme still looked surprised, probably because of the fact we were acting like little sisters of a brother that had gone away for months, not days.

The true reason of our excitement was we were not the Cullens without him. Each of us had a role in this family. Carlisle the compassionate father, Esme the loving mother, Emmett the older brother and protector, Jasper the caring, sensitive middle brother, Rosalie the conceited older sister, Alice the eccentric middle sister, Edward was the loyal, brave younger brother and I was the youngest of them all, with a little bit of each of their personalities within me, except for Rosalie's pig-headedness, and the one everyone thought they had to protect from the dangers of the world, but didn't. If it wasn't for the fact we were vampires, we would be like any large, human family.

Esme smiled at the prospect of having her youngest son back at home. "That's wonderful! When?"

"Today! In 3 hours and 42 minutes." Alice practically squealed.

Those 3 hours and 42 minutes seemed to pass by much slower than the rest of the day. Finally I heard the door open and smelled Edward scent wafting in.

I let everyone that wanted to say hello before I did, I wanted to be last.

"It's great to have you back." Esme said, hugging him.

"You made the right choice." Carlisle said. He looked at Esme and a small shock like electricity went through me. I was always a bit jealous at how he looked at her because once, long ago, he looked at me like that.

Jasper glanced at me, picking up on my emotions and gave me a curious look. I gave him my 'tell-you-later' look and he turned to Edward and nodded, he wasn't much for talking. The complete opposite of Alice who could say a hundred words a minute.

"Eddie! You owe me an arm wrestling match!" Emmett boomed as he walked in the room.

Edward flinched at Emmett's nickname for him.

"Edward, I knew you'd come back!" Alice walked gracefully over to him to give him a hug.

"Of course you did Alice," Edward said with an eye-roll.

Rosalie was still pretending to be indifferent.

My turn. Everyone dispersed around the house, leaving us alone.

"Edward, I . . ." I began.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I just . . . I trailed off in my head.

"We were hungry. It was the monster hidden inside getting angry, not you. I was also on edge. Forgive me." He said, golden eyes reflecting the soft light inside.

"Forgive you?! You should forgive me!" I said, surprised. "I was the jerk, not you! Only you could be sorry for something you didn't do."

He chuckled lightly. "Alright, I forgive you, Ruth."

"I forgive you." I said and hugged him tight, temporarily forgetting the consequence of touching him.

The thoughts of everyone in Forks swept into my mind like I was listening to hundreds of songs at once, but I ignored the pain. Edward was back and that was all that mattered.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"It's going to be OK." Alice whispered.

I rolled my eyes, "No duh, Al. We don't need to see the future to know that. Edward's under control."

"I only wish he could see that…" Alice whispered.

We entered the rundown cafeteria in sort of a fashion like bodyguards around a celebrity, Edward being the celebrity. Emmett definitely fit the bill of bodyguard sporting dark clothes and sunglasses. Why he would have sunglasses where its overcast nearly every day beats me . . . we can't even go out around humans when there is sun.

"Of course it's going to be fine." Edward hissed.

Alice came out of her trance and focused on Edward. "I think you're right."

"Of course I'm right." Edward and I whispered at exactly the same time.

Jinx! I thought with a crooked grin to him.

We sat at our table and waited for Bella Swan to come. I noticed Edward wasn't breathing, not that we had to as it was just reflexive from our human lives and we needed to breath to be able to smell.

". . . must not have said anything." Edward was answering Jasper's question of whether or not Bella talked to anyone about her strange encounter with him last week.

"Maybe you're not as scary as you think." Emmett said with a chuckle. "Ruth could've frightened her better."

Edward rolled his eyes as I lapsed into giggles. I couldn't of; I saw what Edward looked like from some people that were in the classroom from a previous escapade into the minds of the people of Forks.

"She's coming in. Try to look human." Alice whispered.

"Human you say?" Emmett said with an evil grin.

Oh no! Please not me! I thought desperately. I saw Emmett earlier taking a fistful of snow from a small pile in his big hand. Obviously, it would never melt.
He lobbed the hunk of ice at Alice, who clearly saw it coming, and she flicked it away and it flew across the room too fast for humans to notice into the brick wall where it cracked itself and the wall.

I tried to hold in my laughter, but couldn't. Edward laughed to but it was controlled, he was faking it.

Have some fun, Edward. Please, for me? If not for me for Alice 'cause she will be very upset if you don't follow her plan. I saw his true laughter come out at my thought.

"Very human Emmett. What next? Punch the wall?" Rosalie scathed.

"It would look more impressive if you did it, baby."

I bumped into Edward accidentally in my fit of laughter and cringed at Emmett's thoughts.

"Ewwww. Why do you have to be so sexual?" I asked, still cringing.

"Why do you have to not be?" He replied.

"That makes no sense, Emmett." Jasper said, then added under his breath, nearly so quiet our family couldn't hear, but we knew Edward was listening. "Ruth, last night you . . ."

"No way am I telling you with these people around." I muttered back, glancing at Edward. "Of course, now you bring it up, I'm going to have to tell him."

Edward looked at me and I glared at him. He smiled slightly. "What will you have to tell Jasper and I?"

"I don't have to tell either of you anything! It's my life so drop it." I said, leaning back and crossing my arms.

By now, our whole family was watching us three.

"What?" I asked darkly. "Can't a girl have her secrets?"

"Not with a mind reader." Edward said.

I sighed at their persistence. "Fine, later. But only Jaz and Edward. If you two tell anyone else, God so help me . . ."

Edward tensed.

"So, you kill one human, it's not the end of the world." Emmett said.

"You would know." Edward retorted.

"Eternity is a long time to wallow in guilt." For once, Emmett was being serious and his advice applied to more than one of us.

How true, eternity was a long time to feel guilty over something. I felt the eyes of Edward and Jasper on me, both picking up on my thoughts and emotional turmoil.

I said LATER! I thought.

Just then, Alice flung a snowball at Emmett and hit him squarely in the unsuspecting Emmett's face.

He looked stunned for a second, then grinned mischievously.

"You asked for it."

He leaned across the table and shook his head, spraying bits of ice on Alice and Rosalie, the two nearest to him.

We all laughed at Rosalie's disgust and Alice holding her tray up as a shield.

Emmett put a hand through his hair, collecting what was left and threw it at me suddenly. The snow/ice mixture hit my shirt. I stared at him, stunned.

"You didn't!" I said, looking down at my favorite t-shirt. "I will get you back, prepare for revenge!"

I spent the rest of the lunch period planning my revenge. When the bell went, my family made no move to leave.

"I think it's okay . . ." Alice hesitated. "Your mind is set; you should be able to make it through the hour."

"Why push it? Go home and take some time." Jasper said, happy for once the concern was not placed on him.

"Either he'll kill her or he won't. Might as well get it over with either way it goes." Emmett shrugged.

"I don't want to move." Rosalie complained. "We're nearly out of high school, Emmett, finally!"

For once, I agreed with her. I didn't want to move; Forks was beginning to grow on me again. I reached over and touched Alice's arm.

The future was turning better for Edward . . . and Bella.

"The future is stronger, you'll be fine, Edward." I said, still looking ahead to what could be.

"Go to class." Edward urged as he got up to go to biology.

I got up too and caught up to him.

"You'll be fine." I said, reassuringly.

He just nodded and we walked to our classes.

Chemistry hadn't started yet when I walked in. Eric sat beside me as usual. I was in a good mood; no doubt Jasper's doing, who was in chemistry too, but a different class.

"Hi, Ruth. How are you?" Eric said timidly.

"Good, why do you ask?" I was curious to know what he was thinking, but I had a good idea.

"Oh, well . . . errrrr . . . you just look happier than you have been in a while." Exactly what I thought. I was a bit upset when Edward was gone and I had fed the night before.

"I am." I replied. "As you probably noticed, Edward is back and I missed him terribly, he is my brother after all."

My story to everyone in Forks was that Edward and I were brother and sister, so it was right for me to feel sad about him being gone.

"Errrr . . ."

Oh no here he goes again.

"There's a comic-con in Seattle this weekend. Do you want to come with me? Just as a friend, I mean."

So he was still persistent. I believed none of his 'just as a friend' thing.

"Eric, we've been through this over and over again. I'm sorry, I truly am, but no. I really don't think of you that way. I think you should ask Angela, you seem to have the same interests." The last bit was a lie, but I hoped he would take my advice.

"Oh, sure." He sounded so sad.

"Hello," I suddenly heard Edward say in the voice he always used when trying to not scare human in his biology class. Was he talking to Bella?

"Yes," he muttered low enough so no one but me would hear.

"My name is Edward Cullen. I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan," I heard him continue.

At this point I was totally focused on Edward and Bella's conversation, totally ignoring our lecture on covalent bonding.

"How do you know my name?" She demanded in a shaky voice.

"Oh, I think everyone knows your name. The whole town's been waiting for you to arrive."

"No, I mean why did you call me Bella?"

"Do you prefer Isabella?'

"No, I like Bella. But I think Charlie - I mean my dad - must call me Isabella behind my back. That's what everyone seems to know me as."

"Ruth! Ruth!? What is the answer to question 4?" My teacher demanded, bringing me back to my class.

"Iron," I answered, remembering the answer from the work I finished in class yesterday. I then quickly started listening to Edward and Bella again.

I heard Edward breathe because if he was going to continue talking, he would need air. I heard him having a hard time controlling himself.

Come on Edward! Control! You can do it! I encouraged.

"I'm fine. And thanks," he muttered.

"Get started," Mr. Banner commanded. I realized they were doing an experiment with onion root.

"Ladies first, partner?" Edward asked kindly.

"Or I could start if you wish."

"No, I'll go first."

Wow. I could practically hear the chemistry between those two. I had this weird feeling our lives were about to change drastically. This is weird for a vampire because we are frozen in a body of one age. Something really radical has to happen to inflict change like the one I was feeling may happen.

"Me too." Edward responded to my thoughts.

After Bella identified the phase of the onion root, she started to remove the slide.

"Mind if I take a look?" Edward asked. Then I heard Bella gasp in surprise and him apologize. What just happened?

For the rest of the experiment, they were just saying one word at a time. It seemed to be a little awkward.

"Did you get contacts?" Bella suddenly blurted out.

"No," Edward sounded amused. Why would he need to see better?

"Oh," she mumbled, "I thought there was something different about your eyes."

Oh my. Bella was way more observant then we thought. Edward's eyes, of course, are light amber right now, just like any vegetarian vampire's eyes are after they quenched their thirst.

Too bad he didn't just answer yes to the contact question. I don't think Bella will believe our human façade much longer.

I heard Mr. Banner accuse Edward of doing the whole experiment, but then figured out Bella was in an advanced science course in Phoenix, where she used to live. Not surprising. She seems pretty intelligent.

For the rest of the time, they discussed why Bella moved to Forks. Her mother remarried and she sent herself to Forks so she could travel with her new husband, a minor league baseball player. Bella is so…selfless. She's so perfect for Edward. I hope they can somehow be together.

Edward was totally fascinated by her. He was hanging on to her every word. Okay maybe that's an overstatement but I've never seen him like this before.

The class was almost over and I really wanted to get to Spanish as soon as I could. I wanted to talk to Edward.

Around 10 minutes before the bell rang, my phone began to vibrate. Luckily, the teacher had the radio on, so no one heard it. I flipped it open and read the text Alice sent me.

Ed not OK. Going 2 c. Dont wry, under control. Alice.

What? He seems fine with Bella. Then again he's always put on a good show.I texted her back.

R u sure? I can leave if u need me 2. Ruth.

When no reply came, I assumed everything was alright. As soon as the bell rang, I met up with Emmett outside the door to our Spanish class.

"How d'you think he did?" He asked.

I didn't really want to tell Emmett about how perfect they are for each other. Edward was tense enough without Emmett bothering him.

"Well, he didn't kill her or anyone else. I saw people walking out of the room. I also heard him talking to her." Did I see disappointment in his expression?

"Emmett, did you want him to mess up?" I asked, incredulously.

"Sure, he's always been Mr. Perfect."

I shook my head, part in disbelief and part in disagreement.

Just then, we smelled Edward heading our way and we both saw the wild look in his eyes.

"Nobody died." Edward mumbled a response to Emmett's thought.

Edward, I expected nothing less. You are the most controlled after Carlisle and me. I don't think you would've killed her anyway; I've always believed in you from the start.

He smiled at me as he slumped into his seat and me next to him and Emmett on my other side in our row of desks at the very back of the room then answered Emmett. "I didn't realize I was that close . . . I didn't realize it was that bad."

He must be referring to Alice, now. I leaned my arms on the table, touching Edward's; making it look like lack of space was causing it.

. . . a person smells too good. I'm impressed you've lasted this long. I caught the end of Emmett's thoughts.

"Not helping, Em!" I warned, hearing Edward's distress over the fact that Emmett was accepting of him killing this one girl.

I know when it happened to me . . .

Emmett began reminiscing about some old lady that smelled really good. When he remembered her taste, I punched him hard in the arm when Edward stood up suddenly, breaking our contact.

"Ow." He said. "That actually hurt!"

"You idiot!" I whispered. "Can't you tell he's been through enough!? You're making us attract attention."

Sure enough, Mrs. Goff came over to check on us.

"Esta bein, Edward?" She asked.

"Me perdona." Edward muttered and got up to leave the class.

Senora Goff asked Emmett to see if he was alright and I was upset she didn't ask me, but I just nodded at Emmett.

Take a break. Trust me, it helps.

Emmett came back about 5 minutes later and we didn't get in trouble the entire class; a record for us without Edward around. Most of it I spent dealing with how I could explain my thoughts and emotions around Carlisle and Esme without giving everything away while Edward was, most likely, trying to block everyone out and Jasper across the grounds.

I kept thinking about how Esme might kill me if she could for what I had felt about . . . no, stop. That was centuries ago, get over it!

The bell went, startling me slightly due to my lack of paying attention.

"C'mon Ruth, let's go." Emmett said, grabbing my arm.

We left the room and went straight to the Volvo.

"Edward, are you alright?" Jasper asked.

"Great." He muttered, indicating he was not alright at all.

"I can drive if you want me to?" I asked, hoping he'd say yes. I had loved driving the Volvo so much.

"I . . . nice try, I'll drive." Edward smiled. "And about at lunch . . ."

I rolled my eyes. "Tomorrow, alright?"

"Good enough for me." Jasper replied.

Excellent, now I had this to look forward to of all things.

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