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This chapter is longer than my usual ones.

Enjoy, good luck, happy reading!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the plot.

Can't Go Back Now: Chapter Three

-.x.-

The past, continued:

Before lunch I had Spanish class with Ms. Goff.

I loved taking Spanish with Ms. Goff because she would usually just assign us a chapter in our Spanish learning books and then sit at her desk and take out a magazine and ignore us for the rest of the period, not caring whether we did our work or not. Spanish class was both an easy 'A' and a good time for me to get some reading done.

I was rifling through my bag to get my slightly worn-out but deeply treasured copy of Pride and Prejudice, when a rather short, well-dressed girl interrupted me. She was beautiful, with pale translucent skin, short jet-black hair and stunning blue eyes.

"Hi there, I'm Alice Cullen." She said in her pretty, melodic voice.

I tried not to gawk. So this was Edward's sister. All I could think was what is up with these Cullen kids being so impossibly perfect?

I stared at this bright-eyed girl wondering why on earth, in a classroom of 23 students, she was talking to me of all people – especially when I probably didn't look the most inviting. Reluctantly I set my bag down and offered her a timid smile.

"Bella Swan." I replied.

"You look like you have a million thoughts swirling around your head, Bella." Alice observed, laughing lightly.

I nodded, not exactly sure how to respond.

"Oh, I know what it is. Have you met my brother, Edward?" She asked, looking at me wearily.

"Yes. He's-"

Alice raised her hand as if to stop me. "If you say 'hot', 'sexy' or 'crazy-bangable'. I am literally going to puke." She cautioned.

I laughed lightly. "Actually, I was going to say he's in my English class."

"Oh thank goodness!" Alice said, smiling. "You do not know the crazy shit I've heard this morning." She said exasperatedly.

I can imagine, I thought to myself, my heart skipping a beat as I remembered those smoldering green eyes and that perfect smile.

No. Not good. Those are bad thoughts, Bella.

"I don't even want to imagine." I told Alice instead.

"I take it you aren't as, receptive to him as the rest of the school's female population," she said with a smirk.

Well…

"I don't really know him." I replied, shrugging casually.

"You're too kind." Alice said with a chuckle. "I bet he made a grand entrance and did a wonderful job of sweeping majority of the girls off of their feet."

I smiled. "Something like that."

"That's Edward for yah." She said, shaking her head amusedly.

We continued an effortless conversation until the bell rang; something I had never done with anyone in the past 2 and a half years of being in Ms. Goff's class. Instead of learning Spanish, I was learning about Alice and the rest of the Cullen family.

The Cullens moved to Forks to be closer to Esme's sister, and to get away from the city life. Alice didn't elaborate, but I had a feeling there was more to that story than she was letting on.

Her father, Carlisle, is a doctor; and her mother, Esme is an interior designer. Carlisle and Esme Cullen are the biological parents of Edward and Emmett, who's a year older than us. Alice was adopted when Carlisle and Esme were led to believe that they couldn't conceive any more children after Emmett, but then along came Edward.

Alice knew nothing of her birth parents, and frankly she wasn't interested in them. She disclosed that she dreamed of a future involved in fashion, and that she loved playing the stock market – which I found highly unusual but incredibly cool. Apparently she's very good at predicting outcomes.

Something that really intrigued me about Alice was that she firmly believed that "the One" was out there somewhere, waiting for her. I've never really believed in such notions as "the One" or "soul mates", but the impassioned way Alice spoke about it made me wish I did.

Alice also mentioned a bit about Edward; how interestingly enough, he's never actually been in a steady relationship. She said that aside from football, he loves to read; and that he collects CDs, and can play the piano like a concert pianist. Somehow I had a feeling that she wasn't exaggerating.

A part of me wished I could hear him play.

Alice even told me about Emmett; that he's always been the kind of guy that prefers commitment and serious relationships. That even though he seems like the classroom joker or your typical "jock", he's actually pretty intelligent.

By the end of the period I felt as though I almost knew the Cullens inside out. And despite the fact that Alice and I had very different personalities, we shared a special dynamic that I had never experienced with any friends before.

We walked to the cafeteria together after class, talking and laughing. I tried to not feel self-conscious as our classmates stared at us.

Alice even pointed it out. "I knew people would stare because I'm new, but they look more surprised than they do curious."

More than just a few people were shooting the both of us looks of confusion and astonishment.

"I think they're surprised that you're talking to me." I admitted.

Alice tilted her head and looked at me inquiringly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know. You're Alice Cullen, the new and beautiful fashionista extraordinaire,"

Alice laughed and rolled her eyes at my description of her.

"And I'm Bella Swan, quiet, reserved and bookish." I explained to her. "People are probably surprised that you've started hanging out with me."

Hell, I was surprised.

"Really?" Alice replied, scrutinizing me. She shook her head. "You don't give yourself enough credit Bella."

We joined the lunch line and she continued. "The way I see it, I'm just the new girl who's been taken under the wing of this funny, gorgeous, intelligent person; screw what any of these idiots think or say."

I blushed lightly and smiled at Alice as I added a piece of pizza and a can of Coca Cola to my tray. "Touché."

We paid for our food and proceeded to walk to an empty table. Halfway there we were stopped by who I could only presume to be the remaining Cullen sibling – Emmett. He was tall like Edward but more muscular, though not unpleasantly so. He had slightly wavy brown hair and beautiful ice-blue eyes.

Another perfect, extremely attractive Cullen.

"Ladies." Emmett said, flashing me a charming smile. He had the cutest dimples I had ever made me even more curious to see what their parents looked like.

"Emmett!" Alice squealed excitedly. "This is Bella."

I smiled at him nervously and stuck out my hand. "Bella Swan, it's um, nice to meet you."

"Emmett Cullen," He mimicked me good-naturedly. His warm hand enveloped mine in a nice, strong grasp. "The pleasure's all mine."

I laughed, unable to meet his pretty blue eyes.

"I was just about to ask Bella to come over for dinner after school today." Alice told him, smiling at me.

I looked at her in surprise.

"Sounds like a good idea." Emmett replied with a warm smile.

"Bella?" Alice asked.

I looked between them, flustered. "Uh, yeah, sure."

"Great." Emmett boomed. "Well ladies, if you'll excuse me." He said, grinning and moving out of our way to sit at the caf table surrounded by Forks High's senior athletes.

I turned to Alice once he was gone. "You weren't exaggerating," I told her. "He's incredibly friendly."

"Like a big teddy bear. Literally." She replied, smiling back at me.

Right before we could sit at our table Alice and I were interrupted again – this time by a less welcome sight. Mike Newton popped up out of nowhere, looking pretty tense.

"Hey, Bella!"

"Hey Mike." I replied politely.

"Are you coming to sit with us or…?" He asked, staring at me with puppy dog eyes, to no effect.

Oops. I'd forgotten about my usual lunch spot at Mike's table in the wake of meeting Alice.

"Oh, sorry Mike, I'm kind of busy." I answered, gesturing to Alice. "Have you met Alice Cullen?"

Alice smiled graciously at Mike and stuck out her tiny hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Yeah, we have History class together." Mike said, lightly shaking Alice's hand before turning back to me. "She could sit with us too."

"I think we're okay here, right?" I asked Alice, who nodded in agreement.

"Thanks, though. Really." I told Mike courteously. Alice and I stepped around him, finally able to sit at our table. But Mike remained hovering over my shoulder.

"Who was that guy you were talking to?" He asked, a little too innocently.

"That was Alice's brother, Emmett." I answered, exchanging a perplexed look with Alice. "He's really great." I said. Alice giggled beside me.

"Oh. Alright." Mike replied, looking disheartened. He sulked back to the table where we usually sat with Angela Weber, Ben Cheney, Tyler Crowley, and Conner Davies.

Alice tinkling laughter rang out as soon as Mike was gone. "What was that about?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea what's up with him. He doesn't usually hover so hard." I answered, taking a sip of my drink.

But Alice still looked inquisitive.

"Oh…"

"Em's really great, huh?" She asked amusedly, raising an eyebrow.

I blushed. "Yeah, sorry about that. I just wanted to shoo Mike away."

"Uh huh." Alice replied, smiling. "So Mike's not your boyfriend right? I almost thought he was going pee on you and call you his territory, or something." She said casually.

I snorted Coca Cola out of my nose.

"What?!"

We both laughed as I wiped my face and shirt with napkins.

"He is most definitely not my boyfriend, nor will he ever be." The mere thought was cringe-worthy. I mean Mike was a great guy, but there was just nothing there. No chemistry, no connection…

I found myself thinking about green eyes.

"Ooh yikes, you should probably let him down easy." Alice said, shaking me out of my thoughts. "The guy seems incredibly hung up on you." She cast a pitying look his way.

"I've actually told Mike time and again, as kindly as possible, that I'm not looking for anyone. And still he persists." I informed her. "I swear he won't back down until I'm completely taken with someone else."

Alice shook her head sympathetically.

"Anyways," I said, wanting to steer the topic away from Mike and my love life in general. "I wanted to ask, are you sure you want me to come over today? I mean, you guys moved here so recently and I don't want to get in the way of anything."

"Absolutely!" Alice exclaimed. "You won't be in anyone's way."

"Plus," she continued, eyes alight with happiness. "I have a feeling this is just the beginning of what's going to be an amazing friendship."

I smiled at her appreciatively; I couldn't agree more.

x.x.x

I walked Alice to her English class before I made my way over to Biology II with Mr. Banner.

I sat on my usual stool at the back. I was the only person without a lab partner, since the class had an uneven number of students. I preferred working on my own though; half the class had no idea what they were doing.

There were microscopes on our lab tables, and I remembered that we had an in-class assignment today. We were supposed to label, analyze and draw pictures of slides containing onion root cells at varying stages of mitosis. The slides were not in the natural order of mitosis, and we were not allowed to use textbooks; this was Mr. Banner's challenge to us all.

After all of the slides had been handed out to each group, there was a knock at the door.

Mr. Banner answered the door and my heart skipped a beat as none other than Edward Cullen walked in. He handed Mr. Banner a paper and Mr. Banner, being a no-nonsense kind of teacher, briefly introduced Edward to the class and told him to find himself a seat.

I groaned inwardly; the only empty seat was the one next to me.

I busied myself with tinkering with the microscope in front of me as Edward sat down without a word, drawing his stool closer to mine.

Before I could overthink this new… situation, he suddenly turned to me and smiled. "It's Isabella, right?"

His intense green eyes searched mine as I tried to form a coherent sentence – something incredibly difficult for me to do while in his presence. All I could think was, he remembered my name?

I told myself it didn't mean anything.

"Bella." I finally mumbled back, breaking our eye contact to toy with one of the four slides on our lab table. I needed something to distract myself with. In this proximity I could smell him, and he smelled incredible. It didn't smell like cologne; but it was overwhelming good. And it was throwing me out of focus.

"Bella." Edward echoed in his beautiful voice.

"So, Bella, what are we doing today?" He asked attentively.

"Um," I replied, flustered. I looked down at my notes. "Onion root cells in various stages of mitosis,"

"Okay, sounds easy enough." He replied. I looked back up at him, perplexed. Easy? Most people in this class turned green at the thought of this assignment. "Sorry," Edward apologized. "Continue."

I nodded awkwardly. He made me feel so damn nervous. It was as though I hardly had any control over myself.

"So, first we have to determine what stage of mitosis the cells are in, then draw what we see through the microscope." I told him. "Then we write down an explanation as to why we think the cell is at that stage."

"Alright." Edward responded, looking over the slides and our handout. Was I crazy, or was he actually interested in the lesson?

I tried to set our first slide into the microscope but in my nervousness my hands were trembling. As if I could be more embarrassing, I thought, blushing furiously.

Edward kindly reached over to help me, our hands touching. As if I'd touched a live wire, a jolt of electricity shook through my body, leaving me breathless. I almost dropped the slide in my shock.

"Sorry." I muttered quickly.

But Edward seemed not to have noticed as he gently took the slide from my hands and set it into place.

"There you go." He said softly, looking into my eyes.

"Thanks." I murmured back

Remembering the task at hand, I leaned over and looked into the microscope, carefully tweaking the lens setting to get a better look at the slide.

"Slide one is uh, Anaphase." I said, filling in the blank on the sheet Mr. Banner had provided.

Edward smiled at me, sending my heart into a frenzy.

I hated when he did that.

"Would you mind if I took a look?" He asked.

Although doubtful he knew his stages of mitosis, I wordlessly passed the microscope over to him. He looked into the eyepiece briefly. "Yup, that's Anaphase alright."

I nodded; I'd already known that.

Edward stared at me. "Would you like to draw it, or…?"

"Do you draw?" I asked him.

"Only when I have to." He responded, smiling again.

"Then you're drawing." I told him, sliding over the sheet and my pencil. At this rate I would probably be unable to draw in a straight line without trembling, let alone pick up a pencil to draw. Edward chuckled, proceeding to sketch the slide.

The rest of the class time followed in a similar manner. We would exchange a few words here and there, my heart would threaten to beat out of my chest, and we would pass the microscope and slides between the two of us.

We didn't even need to crack open the textbook underneath our lab table to double check – something that the rest of the class was doing, and not even covertly.

It turns out that Edward was actually rather intelligent, surpassing even my knowledge of the cell stages. He had been in the AP Biology program at the private school that Alice, Emmett and he had attended in Chicago. Alice hadn't mentioned that.

In spite of myself, I found myself warming up to him. He was still mostly a mystery to me, but now I knew he was more than just a pretty face in expensive clothing.

When the bell rang, we had one slide to go. The rest of the class was only halfway done so Mr. Banner extended the due date to tomorrow, something that was generous and out of character for him.

That meant Edward and I would most likely spend most of tomorrow's class with nothing to preoccupy us. I tried not to dwell on it as I grabbed my things to leave.

"See you tomorrow, Bella." Edward said as we left the classroom, locking his beautiful eyes onto mine. I was easily lost in their emerald depths.

"Bye Edward." I mumbled back, watching as he smiled and walked away, disappearing into the crowded hallway.

I didn't like it. It had only been a couple of hours since I first met him, and already the way I felt about him… I had never felt this way about anyone before.

Seeing him made my pulse quicken; looking into his eyes incapacitated me. Simply being in his presence was incredibly intoxicating. When we spoke, it was just the two of us; the rest of the world ceased to exist.

There was some kind of energy; some kind of spark between us, and I couldn't help but wonder, did Edward feel it too?

I was inexplicably drawn to him, and I didn't know why…

All I knew was that I didn't like it.

I didn't like it at all.

Let's give a warm welcome to Alice and Emmett!

Question: have you ever felt about someone the way Bella feels about/around Edward? I have. Sadly it led nowhere.

Review/follow/favourite to cheer me up? That would be nice.