This girl was odd. However not in a physical sense; She wasn't deformed, and didn't have any kind of mental imparity—that he could notice, but the presence in which she kept herself, specifically, was odd. The way she wore her clothes that didn't match, but not in an attempt to make a fashion statement; it was as if she threw the nearest thing she had, on. And the way she seemed distracted, dazed; as if her attention was lost on some incredible destination to bigger and better things, than what was going on in the classroom half the time. Not to mention how completely exhausted she always seemed to be. She looked like she was healthy in weight, but it wouldn't kill her to gain a few pounds. The circles under her eyes weren't dark necessarily, but they were still hard not to notice.

Though he really didn't have much room to talk. After flying 1,373 miles, 2 hours and 45 minutes, plus the extra hour he and his family had waited for their bags to be claimed when they had gone missing, as well as adjusting to the time change; with only about three hours of sleep and a few sips of caffeinated soda to keep him going, he doubted he looked any better. If he were able to daydream—if that's what she was doing, 'cause frankly, she would stare for such long moments at a time, she almost looked lethargic—as easily as she could, he would. And where were her pants? Surely thin tights, trainers and a large sweater couldn't be warm enough in this early October weather.

He'd seen this girl in his literature class, his gym class and his current art class. From what he observed, she didn't talk much. When she did, it never lasted long. Just enough to get her point across, and then she'd return to the bigger and better things her mind would offer. As much as he noticed the abnormal things about her, he was surprised that his professors did not. Unless he was mistaken and they did, they never said anything about her odd behavior. Maybe it only seemed odd to him though, 'cause none of his classmates seemed to pay her much attention, either.

Throughout art class she seemed pretty normal. Then again, what is normal anyway? A bit bored looking but he didn't have much interest in perspective drawing, either. He sat beside her in this class. Out of the corner of his eye he would sometimes see her sketching something completely off assignment, smudging certain parts with her fingers, or scraping her pencil as hard as it would go, breaking its tip. And sometimes, she would just sit there staring at the wall, or at her shoes. She didn't make any attempts to talk to him, and out of awkwardness, he didn't try talking to her. When class was over she left just as she'd come; silent, complacent, looking as if her thoughts were in a completely different place, and her sneakers tapping lightly against the tiled floors.

~oOo~

The next two weeks were no different. Between unpacking the entire house, memorizing his schedule, classroom locations, as well as his locker and combination, while also catching up on about half a term's worth of work, he was relieved when the final bell rang; leading him to a three day weekend. He stood under an overcast sky, on the sidewalk near the school parking lot waiting on his sister, Alice.
Emmett, his older brother, was staying behind to watch some of his newly made friends practice lacrosse. A tragedy, he'd said over dinner last week, that he'd come here mid-season without a chance to join until next spring. Honestly it was surprising this school had any sports at all, besides volleyball. He could find his own ride home then.

But then he saw her, dressed almost accordingly for once; with denim jeans, worn in sneakers, and some kind of pale plaid shirt that stuck out from under her jacket. She'd walked past him, almost completely unrecognizable with her hood up over her ears. Her head was bobbing along to some kind of tune she was humming.

"She's just one girl." He thought. How hard could it be to say hello, or ask how she was doing? She was thankfully heading the same direction he was. Not wasting another minute, he jogged over and tapped her shoulder.

"Put it in your fucking napkin…"

His face immediately blanched. His hand slipped off her shoulder and grabbed her backpack strap, stopping her in her place. She turned around with an audible "Hmm?" staring at him as if he had been born with two heads, which at the moment; he felt as if he had been.

"What did you just say?" heat was slowly coming back to his face. For a moment, she continued staring at him as if it were a completely normal occurrence to say such a thing to someone for the first time, until something he'd said clicked and she pulled her hood down; revealing a pair of headphones over her ears.

"Sorry. Lyrics." She held up her small blue iPod for proof.

"Oh, I see…" No, he didn't. He had never heard of a band called Surfer Blood and judging from the name, had no immediate plans to. He offered his right hand somewhat politely. "I'm Edward," he murmured. She gave a small smile and shook his hand with a light grip. "I'm Bella." She tucked her iPod and headphones into the pocket of her jacket, and wrapped a scarf around her neck in its place.

"You must be new?" she asked, while adjusting her hair. At first he thought she was joking. But when she stared at him with such a genuinely serious expression he wiped the small smirk off his face. Could she really be that unobservant?

"I just moved here two and a half weeks ago from Alaska." he tried to keep his voice as even as possible. The sudden sound of surprise caught him off guard. "Holy cow. Which part?" Bella exclaimed. Truth is, like his other siblings, he had been born in France, but had moved to Alaska later on, when he was twelve; but told her he and his family had been living near their cousins in Denali, Alaska for the past five years until now. "It's not that exciting," he went on. "The weather doesn't seem to have changed much from Denali since I've been here." Bella gave an amused smirk, shaking her head. They talked about their plans for the extended weekend. Edward still had a few things to put in the attic, and Bella didn't have much going on except for a few appointments. Alice showed up after the small talk, accidentally interrupting Bella's advice on places for Edward to check out when he got the chance. The two were introduced briefly before going their separate ways; Bella heading to the other side of the lot to her truck, while Edward and Alice went along the sidewalk to his car at the curb.

"She seemed normal enough." Alice piped, buckling herself in his passenger seat.
"Key word being seemed. That's the most I've heard her talk in the past three weeks." Alice smacked his arm, chastising him for supposedly being rude. Ignoring his sister's chatter about how badly she wanted to be home before she missed some kind of television show, he closed his door and drove out onto the main roads, watching Bella's taillights disappearing from his rearview mirror reflection.

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A/N: well there you have it! A bit of a slow start, I know. Just in case any of you were wondering what the song from the lyrics Bella unintentionally alarmed Edward with is, it's "Floating Vibes" by Surfer Blood. Please review and tell me what you think. I'll do my best to update as soon as possible. Thanks!