Thanks to the betas at Project Team Beta for cleaning this chapter up for me. I need to learn to put commas in. If you haven't checked out PTB you should. Their link is on my profile page.

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Chapter 3

Despite all mine and Esme's initial misgivings, our family was slowly settling into life in the sleepy community of Forks. Carlisle appeared to be finding practicing medicine in a small town as satisfying as he had hoped it would be before we moved here. Esme had found several charity organizations to join and, from the sound of it, would soon be running them. Some things never changed, despite the locale.

I, for my part, was not making much progress as far as Bella was concerned. Biology class was spent pretty much the same way: her avoiding me, only occasionally looking up at me, and speaking only when required by our class work.

Despite the lack of progress, my curiosity regarding Bella had not diminished one bit. In the cafeteria, I would spend the majority of my lunch period trying to pretend that I wasn't staring at her and her siblings across the annoyingly randomly colored tiles of the cafeteria.

Her sister, Jessica, was almost as interesting to watch as Bella. She was cool and aloof, that much was apparent even from across the cafeteria. She never made eye contact with anyone, speaking only to Bella and her brother Michael. She was pretty, but couldn't hold a candle to Bella.

As I watched them, it became obvious that Jasper was right. Jessica and Michael were most definitely closer than siblings. When I ventured to ask Jasper about it one day, he rolled his eyes and explained that the two sisters had come to live with their aunt Renee and her husband Charlie after some sort of accident with their parents. Michael, Charlie's nephew, had been adopted by Charlie and Renee several years prior. Apparently Jessica and Michael had hit it off in their new living situation.

"You're not still hung up on that chick, are you?" he asked, smirking from across our lunch table.

"No. Just...curious, " I lied. "Do you know if Bella's dating anyone?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders. I could already feel my face getting hot as I saw the mischievous glint in Jasper's eye.

Instead of saying anything, he just shook his head and laughed, muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "lost cause." I laughed a little and tried to appear casual about the whole thing.

When I looked up again, I stopped dead in my tracks. For the first time ever, Bella was staring at me from across the room. I couldn't read the expression on her face, but if I didn't know better, I would have sworn she had heard me. But that was impossible, she was sitting all the way across the noisy cafeteria. After an intense moment, she finally broke eye contact and resumed her casual bored posture along with her siblings.

For once, I got to biology before her. I smiled as I sat down, but then as I sat there, waiting for her, my smile faded. What if she decided to sit somewhere else? What if, when given the option, she didn't choose to sit with me? In the midst of my panic, Bella arrived. I could never grow tired of watching her move. She moved with such grace it almost seemed like she was floating. Countless times I had watched her retreating form at the end of class, but what I saw today as I sat clutching my chair, trying to formulate a plan to get her to sit next to me, paled in comparison to all her exits.

Bella walking towards me was, if possible, an even more glorious sight. I liked the thought of Bella walking towards me. Her long chocolate hair swung behind her back in a shimmering sheet. Her legs were long, despite her small stature, and her jeans clung to them like a second skin. She seemed to glide across the floor instead of walk upon it like the rest of us. I was struck again with how out of place she seemed here in the dingy biology classroom.

She glanced at me quickly as she sat down, and I'm pretty sure I breathed an audible sigh of relief, because she gave me a funny look as she settled into our table. I smiled as I thought about the table being ours; mine and hers.

"Hello," I said smiling at her.

"Hi," she said quickly as she took out her books.

"How's it going?" I asked, watching as she unpacked her things with graceful hands and slender fingers.

"Fine," she said. Then she surprised me, adding, "How are you?" We had been sitting together for almost a month now. She had never once asked about me.

I swallowed quickly. "I'm good. Thanks for asking." Great. She finally asks me a question, and that's what I come up with. Nice, Cullen.

"You're welcome," she said quietly. I glanced up at her and caught her smiling gently at me. It was still a small smile, but it was a smile, nonetheless.

"So, I'm stressing a little about the bio test we have next week. Have you studied? I have, a little, but I feel like I still need to study more," I said. Why was it whenever she gave me an opening, an inch, I lost my internal filter. I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"Do you want to study together?" My heart sank as the words fell from my mouth. I was an idiot. I already knew what her answer would be.

I couldn't look at her. Suddenly I wanted to be anywhere but in that classroom. I felt hot and claustrophobic, like the room was closing in on me. Stupid biology classroom, stupid high school, stupid small wet, rainy town, stupid move. Stupid.

I sighed and prepared to begin taking notes as Mr. Banner signaled that he was ready to begin his lecture. She didn't even have to answer me; I didn't need to hear it.

"Okay. That sounds nice."

The words didn't register right away. I didn't even register where they came from for a minute. Unwilling to believe what my brain was trying to tell me, I chanced a hesitant glance to my side. I found her warm topaz eyes gazing at me and her mouth was turned up in an amused smirk. I opened my mouth to respond, but she placed one slender finger to her lips, and I was distracted momentarily by the sight, before I realized she was shushing me because Banner had started his lecture.

Play it cool, Cullen, I thought quickly. I grabbed my notebook and quickly tore a sheet out. I had to fight to keep my hand from shaking. I am turning into a girl, I thought as I scribbled out a note.

When and where?

I pushed it across the table to her, watching out of the corner of my eye as she read it and then gripped her pencil in her slender hand and penned her response.

How about tomorrow in the school library, after school…3:30?

I looked up to find her gazing at me with one eyebrow quirked. I nodded quickly and grinned at her. She rolled her eyes, and I could tell she was suppressing a grin. The rest of the period passed by in a blur. I felt as though I were floating as I walked out to my truck after class.

"What happened to you, Cullen?" Jasper asked, raising his eyebrow suspiciously.

I quickly forced my face into some semblance of a normal expression, although I was having a hard time remembering what that looked or felt like.

I decided quickly not to tell Jasper about my planned study session with Bella. It wasn't that I didn't trust him, it was just that it still didn't seem real. It felt as though if I told anyone about it, it might not happen. As silly as that sounded, I wasn't willing to risk it.

I shrugged and got into my truck.

"See ya later, man," I said to Jasper. He opened his mouth to speak, but then thought better of it.

"Yeah. See ya," he said shaking his head slightly. I could tell from the glint in his eye that he knew I was hiding something, but he obviously decided to let it slide for now.

I hardly ate any of my dinner that night. It felt like there was a huge pit in my stomach that was only getting larger as the hours passed. As I lay in bed that night, trying to sleep, I tried to convince myself that tomorrow was not a big deal, it was just studying with someone in class. But as I tossed and turned, trying to get my brain to shut off, I finally had to admit to myself how big tomorrow actually was. For the first time since I met Bella, she would be consciously deciding to spend time with me, not just sitting next to me in a classroom we were both required to be in.

I didn't sleep well that night. I kept seeing flashes of golden eyes and pale skin, and long chocolate colored hair. I finally drifted off as the first morning light began to peek through my window. I was jarred awake after what felt like only moments later by the blaring of my alarm clock. I groaned and rolled over, not wanting to get up. For a moment I forgot what today was.

When I remembered, I gasped and shot out of bed like a rocket. As I stood, momentarily dazed and confused, in the middle of my room, I felt the familiar pit from the night before return to my stomach. I showered quickly and headed out the door, shouting a goodbye to Esme as I left.

I don't remember what happened in school that day; it went by in a blur. When I arrived in Biology, I was afraid to look over to our table. I was afraid that, for some reason, she wouldn't be there. I was so close to getting to spend some time with Bella, I didn't want anything to take that away.

I took a deep breath and chanced a glimpse at the table. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face when I saw her sitting there. She looked the same as she did every other day: beautiful, perfect.

As I walked over to our table she looked up and met my gaze. I saw her chest rise and fall in a small sigh, and I could have sworn I saw her shake her head almost imperceptibly as she gave me a small smile.

"Are we still on for this afternoon?" Smooth. Way to play it cool, Cullen. Way to not seem overly anxious. "I mean, didn't we say something about getting together to study? Is that today?" Nice cover. Lame.

I could tell by the smirk on her perfect lips that she saw right through my attempt to be nonchalant.

"I believe we did have a date, Mr. Cullen." She nodded at me politely. I thrilled at the words and realized a little too late I was grinning like an idiot. I recovered and cleared my throat.

"I am looking forward to reviewing some of the more challenging material we have covered, Ms. Swan," I said stiffly. Two could play at this game.

She rolled her eyes at me and said, "Pay attention, Cullen. Banner's starting."

I tried to pay attention during Banner's lecture, I really did, but my mind kept wandering in anticipation of spending time alone with Bella. When the bell rang to signal the end of the period I turned to Bella and opened my mouth to say something to her about meeting her later in the library. To my surprise she was already up out of her seat, things put away, bag slung over her shoulder.

"See you in a while, Cullen," she whispered as she breezed past me. Once again, I was left behind in a strawberry vanilla haze.

By three twenty I had walked around campus three times, drank two sodas, and gone to the bathroom once. I was out of things to do to avoid appearing overly anxious by arriving too early.

I sighed and headed to the library. I pushed the door open and scanned the room quickly. It was fairly small. There were a few students sitting at the wooden tables that were scattered amongst the rows of tattered books. The lighting in the room was poor, and was not improved any by the dark churning sky visible through the room's few windows. The librarian gave me a disinterested glance from her post in the center desk before returning to her work.

As my eyes moved across the room, I was surprised to see the girl with the golden eyes and coffee colored hair sitting at a small table in the corner. She was here before me. Is it possible that she had also run out of time wasting activities as well? Is it possible that she was anxious to see me too? I pushed the thought back down quickly as I stepped through the door towards the mystery that was Bella Swan.