Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. It all belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter Two

I found myself looking at a white ceiling. I sat up, feeling slightly dizzy, and more then confused about what had happened, and where I was. The room was unfamiliar, although I knew from my surroundings that it was the school nurses office. Across from me, sitting on a chair with an amused smile on his face, tapping his fingers on the counter with the hand that wasn't bandaged was an all too familiar person…that person I now remembered to be Edward Cullen, who I had stabbed with a pencil after a full five minutes of knowing him.

I let out a groan. "You're not going to puke, are you?" he said. "You've already made me bleed everywhere-the last thing you need is to make the janitorial staff have to clean up your vomit too." Any sympathy that I had felt for him was lost.

Memories of the snarky comment he'd made about me needing to find the library instead remained, and so did my irritation with him. "No," I said, "I am not going to puke. I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much." To prove it, I sat up, trying to ignore the fact that I was feeling incredibly dizzy and wanted desperately to lie back down again.

"Just so you know," he said, "I wasn't trying to be offensive when I said the thing about the library. I was merely joking-you know, ha ha." I rolled my eyes at him.

"You need to work on your sense of humor," I snapped, "it wasn't very funny-it was rude."

Edward frowned at me. "Sorry," he said, "you know-I thought people from Phoenix were supposed to have a sense of humor, always look on the sunny side of things…due to the weather."

"You thought wrong," I said.

I didn't know what it was. He had only made one rude comment to me-and he'd apologized, despite the fact that I had been the one to go all Napoleon on him and stab him with a pencil. He wasn't actually being rude, just attempting to make conversation, and yet at the same time, there was something about his entire person that made me want to…well, stab him with another pencil to be perfectly honest.

Edward didn't say anything for a moment. "You know," he said, "I think you're the first person that's ever been nasty towards me. I find it amusing."

"Wonderful," I said, "I'm glad to see my charming manners entertain you. That's exactly what I've been waiting for all my life-for someone to tell me my scathing remarks make them want to bubble up with laughter."

"Ah, finally," he said smiling even wider, "Forks finally gets someone who's feisty. I was wondering if the pencil thing was just a onetime thing. It's going to be lovely to have someone who doesn't just sit there swooning over me. It will really make school interesting."

I let out a sigh. "Where's the nurse?" I asked, deciding to ignore his attempts at small talk. Really, I had never met a more irritating person in my life.

"Calling your father," he said, "she seems to think you'd better not finish today. Of course that might have something to do with the little panic attack you had."

"Panic attack?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "I did not have a panic attack. You insulted me."

"Somehow I didn't think your father would be too pleased to hear that you stabbed me because your feelings were hurt," he said, "so I explained to the nurse that you were stressed, what with the pressure of it being your first day and all, and you accidentally stabbed me with a pencil, not knowing that my hand was where it was. I was attempting to get you out of trouble with your parents, who surely wouldn't be too happy when they heard what happened."

I rolled my eyes. "Idiot," I said, "thank you very much. They won't care that I stabbed you, no, now my Dad's going to be worried. That's the last thing I need. I did just move here. He's not going to let me out of his sight if he thinks that I have paranoia issues."

"It could be worse," he said, "he could think you were a trouble maker for purposefully stabbing a student, and he could ground you and never trust you again."

I shook my head, and clenched my hands together so that I wouldn't let my anger get the better of me. "What," I said, "are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be back in class? I mean you're all bandaged. You can go back now. There's absolutely no point in your staying here."

"I wanted to stay, and make sure you hadn't died or something," he said, "you're too pale for someone who lived in a state where it's supposed to be sunny all the time. You look like death." Seriously, did he know how to talk with normal human beings? Was he raised in a barn or something?

"Wow," I said, "you really do know how to make a girl feel pretty don't you-telling her she looks like death. Really, whisper some more sweet nothings in my ear, why don't you?"

"Sorry," he said, "I was only stating a fact."

"Look," I said, "I'm fine now, you can go."

"Can't," he said.

"And why is that?" I asked.

"Haven't got a hall pass," he responded. He smiled again, a crooked one. "By the way-is it Isabella or Bella?"

"Why do you ask?" I said.

"I'd like to know so that I can refrain doing something else to get stabbed in the future," he said, "I thought that if I called you by your right name, it would be one less thing you'd attempt to stab me for."

"It's Bella," I said, "just Bella."

"Well Bella," he said, "it's nice to meet you. I'm Edward Cullen."

"I know," I said, "the teacher said your name after you told her answer to the question she asked. The question that I knew, that I was going to answer thank you very much."

"It was only one question," he said, "besides; I was doing you a favor by answering it. You were clearly flustered when she asked."

"I was not," I said, although that was a complete and total lie. I just didn't like the idea of him being right.

Just then, the nurse came in. "Oh," she said, "you're awake. How are you feeling honey?"

"Still a little dizzy," I admitted, ignoring the annoying look on Edward's face that he had on-like he was right about something.

"I'm sorry," said the nurse sympathetically, "too bad about your panic attack-first days at a new school can be stressful. But you know Forks is a pretty laid back place. I think once you get used to it, you won't have any reason to stab anyone, especially poor Mr. Cullen here." Had she not been standing there, I would have rolled my eyes. She had no idea how many reasons Edward Cullen had given me to stab him with a pencil just from the time that I'd woken up.

"I'm sure your right," I said, smiling at the nurse.

"Anyway," she said, "your Dad's on your way to pick you up and take you home. I didn't think it was a good idea for you to finish up the rest of your day."

I was grateful for this. By now, all sorts of rumors had most likely started thanks to my one lapse in judgment. By the end of today, hopefully, it would be all talked out of their systems so that when I came back tomorrow they'd be sick of talking about the new girl. Probably not though-with my luck, people were now probably going to be frightened of me. Thank you very much, Edward Cullen.

"Alright," I said, "sounds good to me."

Edward adjusted himself then so that he wasn't leaning against the counter. "So Bella's going to be alright then?"

"Yes Mr. Cullen," said the nurse, "let me write you a pass and then you can go on back."

"Oh that's alright," said Edward, "Miss Dent won't mind." He then turned and looked at me. "Bella," he said, "I'll be looking forward to seeing you in class tomorrow. Hopefully it will be better than it was today."

"Doubtful," I muttered under my breath.

Edward left, and only a few seconds after he did, Charlie walked in, a worried look on his face. "Bells," He exclaimed, "what the hell happened?"

"I'm sorry Dad," I said, "I just kind of freaked out. I don't handle stress real well."

"I don't either but that doesn't mean I go around stabbing one of this towns doctor's sons in the hand," said Charlie.

Oh goody. I'd made enemies with a guy whose Dad was a doctor. He was probably going to bide his time, kill me, and get away with it. Way to make friends on your first day, Bella. "You didn't tell Mom, did you?" I said. "The last thing I need is her worrying."

"Of course not," said Charlie, "I thought she could do without hearing about this particular incident. Come on Bells, let's get you home." I didn't make any objection to this. I could hide for today, and then deal with the aftermath tomorrow, when I was more prepared.

Edward's POV

I was not someone who got hurt by women. I was a gentleman, according to my friend Alice. It was my friend Emmett who was the one usually getting kicked, punched, and slapped or anything else by girls because Emmett had yet to learn to think before he spoke. Most girls, usually, were too shy to even speak to me.

Bella Swan apparently wasn't though. Within the short time I'd known her, she'd stabbed me, been snarky with me, and actually fairly interesting. I didn't mean to keep on saying things that irritated her; it was just something that happened.

The rest of my classes passed quickly, and when I got to lunch, Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Jasper were all sitting at the usual table we occupied in the cafeteria. Alice, my small, pixie of a best friend, stood up instantly when she saw me. "Edward," she said, "what'd you do to your hand? Why is it bandaged? Did you get into a fight?"

At this, Emmett let out a laugh. "Please Alice," he said, "its Edward-like he would ever get into a fight."

"Calm down Alice," I said, taking the empty seat on the other side of Jasper. "I wasn't in a fight. I just met the wrath of the new girl?"

"You met the wrath of the new girl?" said Rosalie, arching an eyebrow, finding it hard to believe. "What'd you do, open a door for her?"

"Made a joke," I said, "only she didn't take it as a joke. She seemed to think I was insulting her intelligence."

Alice sat down in her seat next to Jasper again. "What," she said, "exactly did you say to her?"

"Just that Forks High School had a library and she should use it," I told Alice.

Alice looked shocked. "Edward," she said, "that is…"

"Really, really, mean," finished Emmett, looking just as confused as everyone else.

"What are you talking about?" I said. "It wasn't mean. It was just a little joke. Besides, it's not like she couldn't handle it either-I've got a bandage on because she stabbed me with a pencil."

"No wonder," said Rosalie, "Edward, it really was a rude thing to say."

"It…it was a joke," I said, "And remember, the stabbing thing."I pointed at my hand.

"You can't really get yourself out of this one, Edward," said Jasper, "the stabbing thing was kind of deserved."

"Wait a sec," said Emmett, "did you say she stabbed you-with a pencil?"

"Yes," I said, hoping that Emmett would take my side on this.

"What was the new girls name again?" he asked.

"Bella Swan," I told him, "the sheriff's daughter."

"Oh good," said Emmett, "no one I've dated before. Well, that's nice to know. Still, I think I'll stay away just in case. Clearly she gets mad easily. I don't need to be stabbed in the hand with a pencil…although Edward, you really did kind of ask for it when you said that to her. "

"Emmett!" I said. "It was a joke-seriously, a funny ha ha."

"I'm afraid not," said Alice, patting me on the shoulder sympathetically.

I sighed. "Alright then," I said, "should I do something to make it up to her?"

"That'd be nice," said Alice, "or you could just apologize to her."

"But I, I-"There was no point in arguing against this. It was clear that everyone had decided that I had been rude and that something needed to be done about it. Well, I would do something about it then I guessed. It would be a nice something, too.

Still, I didn't see why I should. After all, she was the one who had stabbed me with the pencil. A pencil of all things! Who would have thought that a little pencil could do so much damage…

It had been several hours since the incident, and my hand was still throbbing from where it had happened.

I thought about something I could get Bella to say that I was sorry. That was when I remembered that we were reading The Great Gatsby in class. I thought Bella had said that she had already read it but it didn't mean that she owned it. Perhaps I could get that as a way of apologizing to her, a sort of inside joke thing. Yes, that seemed like a good idea.

I would stop by the bookstore after school and get a copy, and give it to her in the morning during English when I would see her again. Then everything would be fine and it would just be a funny incident that we could laugh over later.

Bella's POV

I dreaded going back to school, but it had to be done. Besides, surely something else of interest had happened after that. My having stabbed Edward Cullen in the hand couldn't have possibly been the most interesting thing to occur within the day.

My hopes that it wasn't of interest were dashed when Eric Yorkie, the geeky looking guy who had walked me to English the previous day, greeted me by saying, "Hey there new girl. What's this I heard about you stabbing Edward Cullen with a pencil?"

I sighed. "So you heard about that huh?"

"Yep," said Eric, "I did. It was all over the place after you left. At first, people thought you'd stabbed his buddy Emmett, because that seems more likely-he doesn't exactly have a filter, but nope, it was confirmed that you stabbed Edward Cullen. What'd he do, exactly?"

"Insulted my intelligence," I said.

Eric looked surprised. "Really?" he said. "That doesn't seem like something that Cullen would do. He's usually pretty nice."

"Not to me, he isn't apparently," I said.

"I'm sorry," said Eric, "that sucks. Maybe he'll be nicer today."

"Maybe," I said, but I seriously doubted it.

"Look, you didn't make it to lunch yesterday, so if you want to sit with my friends and I, you can," said Eric, "it's just a few people, but we're nicer then Cullen, if that helps."

That was lucky. I wouldn't have to spend the entire lunch period sitting by myself, like I'd already planned on doing. "Sure," I said, "that sounds like a plan."

"Cool," said Eric, looking elated, "I'll see you then."

"Yeah," I said, "see you."

I walked into the dreaded first period English class. Of course, as soon as I did, I could feel the wary eyes on me and hear the whispers. 'Look,' they were probably saying, 'there goes the crazy new girl who stabs people with pencils. You should stay away from her.' I ignored them, and headed directly to my seat.

I was annoyed to see that he was there, too, leaning against his desk with a book in hand. "Hi, Bella," he said, smiling as though everything were perfectly fine with us, and he hadn't been incredibly annoying the day before.

I ignored him and sat at my desk, not wanting to have to deal with him today. "Oh come on now," he said, looking frustrated, "I was being polite that time. Anyone could have told you."

"I'm choosing to ignore you today," I said, "it's for the best. I don't want to injure you again. I would rather not have my new classmates think that I like violence."

"Come on now," he said, "I'll promise to be a good boy and not do anything to make you stab me. Just talk to me."

I looked at him suspiciously, wondering just what exactly his game was. "Alright," I said, "fine. Shoot."

"What do you think of the weather?" he said.

I looked at him as though he were crazy. "Seriously," I said, "you're actually asking me about the weather?"

A smile crossed his face and then Edward let out a laugh. "Sorry," he said, sliding into his seat, "I'm not real good at making small talk."

"Apparently not," I said. I then remembered the book in his hand. "So," I said, "what are you reading?"

"Actually, this isn't for me," said Edward.

"It's not?" I said.

"No," he said, "it's not. It's…it's for you, actually, a kind of I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I know I didn't think it was anything too bad, but according to my friends and you, it was. So this is an apology gift." He handed me the book.

"You didn't have-"

"Take it," he said, "seriously." Edward shoved the book into my hands.

I sighed and looked down at the book's cover. Much to my annoyance, it was a copy of The Great Gatsby one of which I already had, and was currently in my backpack since I had known I would need it for the class today.

"Is this another one of your little funny jokes?" I hissed. "I have the book Edward." I took out my copy from my backpack and waved it around to show him, shoving his copy back in his hands.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I just…I didn't know-I assumed that you didn't and-"

"So you actually did believe that because I was a little shocked, and nervous when asked the question, that I hadn't read it?" I snapped. "And you actually did mean what you said? Well, it's nice to know I've made an impression-that you think so little of me."

"Oh come on!" he said. "You don't get it do you-it was a joke. Not an insult, a joke. Honestly!"

The bell rang then, signaling the beginning of class. "Oh, thank god," I said, "there's the bell, which means that you can't talk to me now, so I would appreciate it if you would kindly shut up-because I would really like to get through this class without stabbing you, thank you very much."

"Bella, come on-"

I focused on getting my stuff out and ready for class. The teacher started talking, so Edward finally quieted himself, but that did not stop him from staring at me. Finally, when the teacher wasn't looking, Edward shoved a piece of paper onto my desk.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it, honestly. It was a joke.

Can you please stop joking then-because your jokes aren't very funny. In fact, they're pretty annoying actually. YOU are annoying.

Hey-I'll have you know I've been called a perfect gentleman.

See now that's funny, because I know THAT'S a joke.

What is your problem? Are you touched in the head or something?

I couldn't believe he had actually had the nerve to write that. It wasn't as though I was the one doing anything. I started to write something, but the teacher walked by just then.

"Miss Swan," said Miss Dent.

"Yes?" I said looking up, feeling a blush on my cheeks, knowing that I had been caught.

"Those had better be notes on the class, Miss Swan," said Miss Dent.

"They are, Miss Dent," I said.

"Hmm," said Miss Dent, "that's very funny. Because I didn't think the class was arguing about whether or not Mr. Cullen was a gentleman. Unless we've switched topics without my knowing it-have we, class?"

"No, Miss Dent," the class said in unison. It seemed impossible, but nevertheless there seemed to be amusement in every single student's voice.

"I thought so," said Miss Dent, "now Miss Swan-I trust you'll start taking notes on the book that we're reading, and not writing them to Mr. Cullen."

"Yes, Miss Dent," I said, putting the paper with the notes we'd exchanged away in my binder, and then taking out a blank piece of paper to write notes on the lecture.

I glared at Edward. "Cullen," I said, calling him by his surname.

"Yes?" he said.

"If I could, I would so stab you with my pencil again," I said, "but I won't, because this is the only one that I have today, and I need it for my classes-but I swear I'm investing in some more, and they are going to be used specifically for stabbing you every time you do something irritating, like get me in trouble with a teacher."

He didn't say anything to that, and I didn't have anything to add. Instead, I focused on taking notes, determined to completely ignore him.

A/N: Okay, well there you go. Edward keeps on doing stupid things that get Bella in trouble and well…

Anyway, I know it's not the best but tell me what you think.