A/N: For anyone who has read my other stories, this Edward wasn't involved in those timelines, nor is his back story the same. I just like the name ^^

Chapter 3: Edward

"Come on, Jess!" I called from the seat in the back of the truck.

He was walking through the car park, as he always did, but there was a strange limp about him. I hopped out of the seat and headed over to him, concerned. Was he hurt again? "What happened to you?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied briskly, walking past me.

"Jess," I sighed, before following him to the car. "It was Scott and the horde again, wasn't it." I

"Look, it was nothing," he repeated, avoiding my eyes like he always did when he had something to hide. Jess Aarons was a boy of many talents, but lying (if you could consider it a talent) was not one of them. He sucked. Walking over to my side of the car and hopping in, I continued. "You have got to do something about him," I mused, watching him, waiting for him to avoid eye contact.

"I told you, it's nothing!" he snapped.

Not wanting to upset him, it wasn't his fault that people were unnecessarily cruel to him, I kept my big mouth shut tight.

He sighed, heavily, before igniting the car heading out of the lot. "Look," he said, after a second. "Don't worry about it."

Jess didn't know this, but it really pained me to see anything bad happen to him. His evasiveness didn't make me feel any better. If anything, it made me feel worse. "Look," he said, his voice sounding softer. "We got to get home, quickly.

I raised my eyebrow.

"It's nothing dramatic," he grinned. "I want to go with you went you walk P.T, and I've got to get to work soon."

I smiled back. I had to take P.T for a walk every day before and after school and Jess came with me every time, to my joy, unless he couldn't. We usually he head out of Terabithia and sit in the ruins, letting PT run around.

I've got to keep the topic off school, now. Gee, Jess was a high maintenance character. He seemed particularly down in the dumps today, so I didn't really want to leave him on his own for too long. "Can I come," I asked.

"Huh?"

"To work, with you," I told him. Come on, Jess, keep up!

"Why?"

Couldn't he just say "yes" to anything? "I've go nothing else to do," I lied, I had quite a bit of homework and studying to do. Truth be told, I just wanted to spend time with him.

"Really?" he asked.

Damn, had he figured it out? "I have a bit to do," I admitted. "But we both have it, from chemistry. We can do it at Terabithia, later."

"School work at Terabithia," Jess laughed. Jess thought about it for a second. "Of course you can come," Jess answered, after a while. "But don't blame me if you are bored out of your mind!"

I won't be, I thought to myself and smiled.

"How was your detention, then?" I asked, not being able to help myself. "Did he give you a bad time?" I hated that man and how he treats Jess, he deserves to get ripped apart by a pack of Squogers! Or something like that.

"Not really," Jess replied, as we turned the corner to the long road back to Lark Creek. "He just gave some questions which I think were to do with the lesson, but who knows?"

"I'm guessing you did well, because you're still alive," I said.

He nodded. "Yeah, I didn't good enough," he sighed. "He'll be on my back again next lesson, just you watch!"

I thought about that comment. "Well," I said, after a pause. "You know what I think about Science."

"Yeah," he replied. "You have writing, though..." he trailed off.

"Oh, come on, Jess," I sighed. "I've never seen anyone draw half as well as you!" Jess had a self loathing, self critical personality. At least that was what Psychology lessons had taught me. It was really upsetting to see him when he went into these phases.

"That's not true," he replied.

I really wanted to grab him by the shirt and slap some sense into his thick head when he got like this. "Is this about art?" I asked. "Because, if it is, our art teacher doesn't know what she's talking about!"

Jess made a strange, humming sound in disbelief and left it at that.

xJx

Another day... another long, boring, horrible day.

"So, if sulfuric acid reacts with potassium hyrdoxide, what two molecules are formed?" came a soft voice from far away.

"Huh?" I mumbled, shaking my head.

"Jess," Leslie moaned from beside me. "We're driving, you can't be asleep in the car!"

"I wasn't asleep, I was day dreaming," I grinned, correcting her. "So, what was the question again."

We were on our way back to school, and Leslie, in an attempt to protect me from "the wrath of the shadow", was trying to help me with acids and bases. Despite hating science, being the brilliant mind that she was, found her way through.

Leslie sighed. "Pay attention, you goof ball," she said. "Sulfuric acid plus potassium hyrdroxide becomes...?" her voice trailed up, waiting for the answer.

"I think I know this one," I replied. "Er... is it Potassium Sulphate and water?"

"Perfect," she explained, clapping her hands together,

"Only you would be excited about me getting a basic problem right," I told her, turning into the gates of Tristitia High School.

"Hey," she shrugged. "What can I say? That's just who I am."

"Yeah... well, I'm glad," I smiled, but was looking around again. I hated being so damn nervous all the time, but I hated that I needed to be more. I'm not paranoid, people are actually out to get me!

"You're not glad to be here again, though," she sighed. "What are we going to do with you, Jess?"

"Send me to another school, maybe," I replied, a serious response hidden in a joke. I would love to go to another school, but there weren't any, and anywhere without Leslie would be worse than this place.

"But then you wouldn't have me," she smirked, putting a lot of emphasis on the "me" part. She put the chemistry book back into her bag. "So, have you got those equations now?"

"I think so."

"So, if I said Acid plus Base, you would say...?"

"Salt plus water."

"By Jove," she joked, "I think he's got it!"

"Thanks," I said, getting out of the car after I had made sure it was parked; my parking skill were pretty good, but I didn't want someone kicking my car because I had taken up too much space. I'm sure others had there shiny, new cars ruined in these parts.

"And..." Leslie said, drawing her hands up to her face. "Scene," she finished, bringing them back down. I'm not sure exactly was this meant, or where she's got it from, but I'm pretty sure it meant that I started acting differently. She just winked at me whenever I asked her what it meant.

I hope the jocks are doing something else today, I don't want my bag thrown around, and knocked to the ground, to be my Tuesday morning wake up. We were a bit late today, I had slept in a bit; I had a headache last night, it kept me up... typical. "I'm just going to talk," Leslie hummed, walking beside me, toward the school.

"I expect nothing less, Queen," I whispered.

She pushed my shoulders. "What are you saying?" she joked.

I shrugged at her.

"Well, why did you bump in to me, cripple!" a voice shouted, followed by a chorus of cruel laughter.

The two of us looked at each other and frowned. Leslie, being a curious person, followed the sound. "Leslie, wait!" I said, but couldn't get it out loud enough for her to hear me. I could hear the voices, they were not good ones, it's not worth getting involved. That being said, I wouldn't leave Leslie alone to fend for herself. So, sighing, I followed behind her.

"It's coming from behind the corner," Leslie said. We went back out of the door, and headed to the corner. As I tried to look past, I felt her hand on my chest, and her finger came up to her lips. "Shh," she muttered. "Just peep around."

I grinned and leaned behind her. "You love making an adventure out of everything, don't you?" I whispered in her ear.

She nodded in response.

What we saw, wasn't a pretty sight at all. Scott and his horde, four in total, were surrounding one kid. The kid was lying on the four, looking up at them, with a crutch lying at his side. "I don't believe it," Leslie gasped. "How could anyone sink that low."

I clenched my fist until it shaking. Leslie was right, people who attack people who can't defend themselves are disgusting.

"I asked you a question," Scott said, crouching down in front of the boy.

The two stared at each other for a second, before something strange happened. The boy, instead of answering, spat in Scott's face. "What the fuck?" Scott shouting, staggering back. The horde started to laugh. "Why you little..." Instead of finishing the sentence, Scott's foot collided with the kid's stomach, he gasped, but did not back down. He just sat there, staring at Scott.

"We've got to do something," Leslie gasped, leaning forward.

I caught her by the arm. "Don't be stupid." Her mouth fell open in response, but I interrupted her before she could speak again. "You don't even know him, and we can't put ourselves in danger for someone we don't even know."

"But..."

"I don't like it any more than you do," I sighed.

"Oh, a fighter are you?" Scott said, his pride hurt. This returned us back to the nasty scene of the truth of Tristitia High School. He wiped his face, laughed, then kicked the kid again, and again. Until, on the forth kick, the kid collapsed down.

"Nice one, Scott," a boy behind him chortled.

Scott bent down and picked up the kids bag. He turned it up side down, emptying it of its content, and kicked it away. "Welcome to Tristitia High School," Scott laughed, leaving the kid and heading off with his horde, luckily in the opposite direction, laughing about there action.

"Disgusting," I growled.

Leslie, not replying, ran towards the boy before I could stop her. Man, there was no stopping that girl; she was too nice for her own good. "Les!" I hissed after her. "Didn't I say not to get involved?" It was no use, though. When she got into these moods, it's like trying to stop a bulldozer.

"The horde has gone," she called back. "No reason not to do something now."

She was right, but what if they came back? By the time I had thought about it, Leslie was already at the kid's side. Not wanting to leave her alone again, I rushed after her.

"Are you OK?" Leslie asked, crouching down in front of the boy.

Now that I was closer, I could tell that there was something definitely weird about him. It was something about his face. If I had been attacked like that, and I had experienced it, too, I would be furious. On the other hand, his face was completely blank. No fear, no anger... nothing, it was blank and emotionless.

He didn't reply to Leslie, or even react to the presence of the two of us. It was as though we weren't there.

"Hello?" Leslie repeated, raising her eyebrow curiously. She reached over to touch his shoulder. "Are you there?"

Smack. His hand flew up and swatted Leslie's away. "Don't touch me," he growled. His face didn't change, and he didn't look at either of us.

"Hey," I growled back, clenching my fist. "You can't..."

I would have continued at the kid, how dare he attack Leslie, but she nudged. Confused, I held my tongue and left this up to her. I continued to clench my fists, though, wanting to strike him for laying a hand on my queen. I'm not a violent person, but I couldn't help but be protective of Leslie.

Leslie, instead of leaving, reached over to his crutch, which lay a bit away from him. She took it, and lay it in front of him. "Did they take the other one?" she asked, in a soft voice.

This time, the boy reacted. He turned and looked right at Leslie. His face was still emotionless, but there was a flash of something. I couldn't tell what it was, but it looked a bit like confusion. However, it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

Why was she being so nice to him? He'd just told her not to touch him. "No," he said, after a second. Like his face, his voice was blank, deeper than mine, and didn't give any indication to how he was feeling.

"You only have one?" I blurted out, confused.

He looked at me, this time. He had very, very blue eyes. "No," was all he said.

He reached forward and grabbed his bag. Leslie, rushing to help him, picked up some of the books, which were strewn across the floor. He looked packed to Leslie when she handed them to him and frowned, the first sign he had shown that he wasn't some sort of robot. He grabbed his crutch and forced himself to his feet. Without any thanks, or goodbye, he turned and headed away from us, limping heavily.

When he was out of earshot, I shook my head to make sure I was wide awake. "What the heck?" I muttered. "Why did you help him?"

"Hey," she looked at me and smiled. "I was new once."

Yeah, I thought, but you weren't like that.

xLx

Wow, Jess was right, that was really strange. I was in Physics, now, and I was mulling over the short interaction I had with the boy with the crutch. We were five minutes in and our teacher, the stern Mrs. Stone, was giving her usual start of the lesson lecture on the importance of Physics. I've never understood why she did this every lesson. However, she was in her stride now, so there was no stopping her.

He'd spat right into Scott's face. I mean, that's just plain insanity! Who would do that when they are being attacked? Maybe he just didn't get scared... he didn't seem to feel anything else. Maybe he was a robot from the future, that would make sense, and I've seen a lot of movies like that. Scratch that, robots can't spit.

Physics was strange for me, without Jess, people seemed to gravitate towards me. Especially, unfortunately, the guys. Most girls would be flattered by the attention, but I don't want Jess to think I'm interested in anyone else. Maybe that would mean he would get someone, and I couldn't have that. The two of us are meant to be with each other...

"So, reviewing last..." Mrs. Stone began, but was stopped mid sentence; the door had swung open.

Seriously... what were the chances? It was the boy from earlier, standing at the door, looking the same as he had. His eyes scanned the room and stopped on me. It wasn't until now that I had noticed that those eyes were a piercing blue, it was quite uncomfortable, but I couldn't look away. When the silence continued, Mrs. Stone lost her temper. "And you are...?"

The boy didn't answer immediately, he just looked to the teacher. "I'm late," was his answer, to a collective giggle from the class.

"No, your name." Mrs. Stone almost spat, impatiently. She shook her head. "What do you want, then?"

"I'm in your class, apparently," he said, not phased at all by Mrs. Stone's anger or tone.

"Right," she said, glad she had got something out of him. "Name?"

He looked back over to me. "Edward Johnson," he said, but it felt like he was talking to me, instead of the teacher. I couldn't tell what I thought of him, he was quite scary, but also seemed incredibly interesting. Did that make me a weirdo, too?

"OK, I'll check the system," Mrs. Stone said, before heading over to her millennia old computer.

It wasn't 'til then that I realized the class was chatting amongst itself and laughing between them. I didn't have to be plugged in to realise what the problem was. Edward Johnson sure didn't dress like, or look, like someone from this school, or any other school. His hair was short, but really, really, really messy, sticking out in every direction. His clothes were too long for him, which wasn't helped by the fact that he was very thin. He had a leather jacket on, which was black, and seemed to be the only thing he wore that was meant for him. His crutch was the only new thing in his attire, and I still couldn't figure out why he only had one.

"Yeah, you're definitely here," Mrs. Stone said after a minute of looking. "Well, welcome to my class. Now, we need to find you a seat."

It wasn't until now that I noticed the chair beside me was unoccupied. Uh oh... "Over there, in that chair," she pointed at it. "Next to Leslie."

Well, what are the odds of that? Edward Johnson looked over to me again, looking slightly amused for a split second. I wonder what Jess will think of this? Edward pulled the chair out and fell down into the chair. "Is that all right, then?" Mrs. Stone asked, but she was obviously still annoyed he had interrupted her.

"Yeah, it's fine," Edward replied.

I don't think Mrs. Stone liked Edward that much. "Hello, again," I said to him, smiling. Like I had said, I was the new kid once, and I really hated being it.

He didn't reply to this, either. He just looked at me, looking more confused. After a second or two, he tapped his fingers on the table and said: "You're really weird."

I blinked, confused. "Excuse me?" I said.

"You heard me," he said, face reverting to its emotionless version.

"Why would you say that?" I asked.

He looked back to his bag and lay his book on the table. "You don't follow the crowd," he put, simply.

This just made me more confused. "Why do you think that?"

He looked up at me again, this time looking slightly amused. "Well, you tried to help me earlier," he explained, drumming his fingers on the table again. "Even when I slapped you away, you continued to be nice."

"That's not being weird," I laughed. "That's being nice."

He raised his eyebrow. "Same thing." I opened my mouth to respond to that, but he continued. "And you didn't laugh at my clothes when I walked in, even though everyone else did."

I opened my mouth again to be interrupted. This time it was not by Edward Johnson, but by Mrs. Stone. "Are you two quite finished?" she asked.

"Yes," I quickly said, not wanting to get on Mrs. Stone's bad side.

Edward didn't say anything else, he just opened his notebook and stared at the empty pages. So, this is the school's latest edition, the unlucky, strangely dressed, emotionless Edward Johnson. Poor guy, it must suck to be sent to this school!

A/N: Well, there we are, Chapter 3. I'm sorry it took so long to update, but there's not a lot I can do about it. If you are enjoying the story, or have any points that you'd like to make, make sure you review