Edward stood by the car, watching Hannah walk towards her Volvo, while Alice waved. He noticed Bella turn around and glance a worried look at him. He smiled, if only to comfort her, and she smiled back at him, her worries gone. Edward silently slipped into the Volvo and put the key into the ignition. Alice quickly slid into the back, while Bella clumsily got into the passenger seat.

Edward pulled out of the parking lot and within minutes, arrived at Bella's house. He jumped out and quickly opened the door for Bella. As she got out, he slid his arm around her waist. Suddenly, he heard a slight rustle of leaves. In an instant, Alice was beside him. She silently sniffed the air, as did Edward, and they both sighed in relief.

"It's for you," Edward whispered, motioning towards the forest, where Jacob stood.

"Jacob!" Bella ran towards him, dropping her books on the way. She ran up to him, jumping up and down like a crazy person. [AN: No offence, Alice. (: ] Bella wrapped her arms around his torso, as that was all she could reach.

"Hey, Bells," Jacob sighed, his rough voice full of emotion.

"I'm glad you came. I've missed you so much."

A pained look crossed Jacobs face. "Don't say that, Bella."

She nodded and sighed, looking back at Edward. He was next to her in an instant.

"Do you want me to go?" his velvet voice asked. Jacob grunted, and Edward scowled.

"I wasn't asking you, dog." Jacob rolled his eyes, and Edward looked back to Bella with a questioning look on his face.

"Don't go," Bella whispered.

"I'll be back as soon as you're done. I need to talk to Carlisle, anyway." Bella nodded. She waved to Alice as they both got into the Volvo and sped off.

"Can we talk inside?" Jacob questioned, pointing his thumb towards the house.

"Sure. It is getting kind of cold…" Jacob just snorted at that, and made his way into the house.

They made their way into the kitchen. Jacob sat down while Bella started getting a few pots and pans out.

"What are you doing?" Jacob inquired, staring at the growing amount of ingredients that Bella was pulling form the fridge.

"Are you hungry?" Jacob just stared at her until they both started laughing, and it felt just like old times.

"So…how are you and the leec- er, Edward?"

"Everything's good," Belle replied, intensely staring at the vegetables she was chopping.

"Bella. I know your lying. What happened?" Bella looked at him wearily, and finally sighed, giving up on the charade.

"There's a new girl at school…Her name's Hannah."

"And what, your afraid she's gonna steal Mike out from under your nose?" He snorted and picked up a carrot off the table.

"Not exactly…"

Jacob quickly looked up, seeing the anguish burning in Bella's eyes.

"No!" Jacob gasped, unable to control himself. "I swear if that parasitic leech ever hurts, I will tear him piece to p-"

"No, Jacob! It's nothing like that. He's not interested in her. At least, I don't think he is. It's just…you know how I smell absolutely stunning to Edward? Well, she happens to have the same effect on him, too." Bella sighed with relief as she noticed him start to calm down.

"Bella, I don't like this. If she hurt you…if he hurt you…I don't think I could control myself." Jacob looked at her intensely, looking for any sign that she was growing weary of Edward and his problems.

"Jacob, it'll be fine. I'm sure. I haven't seen you in so long. Can we please just hang out, without any talk of vampires, werewolves, or blood?"

Jacob nodded to her, and they got up to make their way into the living room, where that sat and watched T.V. in silence, both pondering what to do about Hannah.

***

As soon as Edward's car touched the driveway of the Cullen's house, Edward was out of the car and in the door in less than a second. Edward approached the door of Carlisle's study. "Come in, Edward."

Carlisle turned around from looking out the window and faced him. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

Edward nodded and studied Carlisle for a minute. "There's a new girl at school. Hannah. She- well… she smells like Bella," he said. "But different. But…better," he whispered, agony etched on his face. "The worst part, of course, is that she has a different mind, too. I can hear her thoughts, but it's like she has a blockade up. I can tell she is determined to make me hers, but I can't tell why. It's like I'm getting half the signal or something."

He looked up at Carlisle's eyes, which held pain, fear, fascination, and sadness all in one. "Edward. I can only imagine how much pain you're in."

Edward nodded slightly and closed his eyes.

"I'm guessing that you want me to tell you what to do?" Edward looked at him and nodded again.

"I'm sorry, but only you can figure this out yourself. But I can tell you the way I would handle this. Ignore her. Switch any classes you have with her. Avoid her. That's all you can do."

Edward looked away and left the room, too agonized to stay in there any longer. Alice stood by the door of his room, waiting for him.

"What, Alice?" Edward growled, too annoyed to take anything from anybody.

"I just wanted you to know that Hannah and I are going to be friends. Very good friends. I don't want you to mess that up. She has a great fashion sense, unlike any other girl in this town. So, for my sake, don't kill her. I'd appreciate it."

"It's not like I want to kill her," he said, looking tortured.

"Well, just saying. Oh, and by the way, she's going to be sitting with us again tomorrow. So please behave. We're going to have the most amazing conversation about Fashion Week in Paris." Alice replied, looking at him with concern in her eyes. "This is hard for you. But you've been through this before. You got over Bella's scent. NOw you just have to get opver Hannah's."

Edward growled and shoved her out of the way, went downstairs, and ran into the forest.