I could bore you with some long introductory spiel, like thanking my beta Robyn effusively for helping me make this chapter better, but I know there's only one thing you guys are waiting for.

So know, without further ado, I present to you...

EDWARD! :D

Chapter 6

Bella stood in the parking lot of the high school nervously, twisting the small white card in her fingers. She had finally gone back to work a few days ago, and though it was great to be back in a familiar, structured environment, she couldn't help but feel that her colleagues were whispering behind her back and giving her sympathetic looks, having heard through the grapevine everything that had happened. Hopefully, here, she could make some new friends, who wouldn't judge her on the person Felix had turned her into, but on the real Bella she was trying so desperately hard to find again.

She took a deep breath and started walking towards the building, but after a few steps she faltered and stopped. She looked down at the now mangled card again, and ran a hand through her hair. New people. Lots of new people. She never used to be shy. She berated herself for allowing Felix to change her so much in just a few short years.

With renewed motivation, Bella began again to take tentative steps in the direction of the building. She glanced at her watch. She was already one minute late. Praying this friend of Jasper Whitlock's guy wouldn't be a stickler for punctuality, she quickened her pace as she went through the door of the school and along the empty corridor. Reaching the gym, she peeked through the open door and saw around twenty people – all women – already paired off and standing loosely in three lines, facing a tall, athletic looking man with reddish brown hair who currently had his back to Bella. She stopped, nervous again, keeping herself out of sight behind the door. They were all already paired off. They were about to start, and she would make the numbers uneven and disrupt the whole class. She knew she shouldn't have come. This was a complete waste of time.

She was turning around, ready to leave again in defeat, when she heard someone jogging towards her, and a voice calling her back.

"Hey!"

She cringed, realizing she had been seen and that there was probably no way she'd be able to back out now, and turned reluctantly back to who she presumed was the teacher, her mind quickly trying to formulate some explanation that would not only excuse her lateness and creep-like behaviour, but also possibly enable her to leave right now and never return, like the chicken she was.

But the sight of the person standing in front of her made her mouth go dry and her mind turn to mush. From his casually tousled hair, to his sharp jaw line with just a hint of stubble, to the pure muscle she just knew was hiding under the loose hoodie he was wearing, this man was the epitome of male perfection.

"You must be Bella Swan, right? Jasper told me you'd be coming. I'm Edward Cullen. I'll be your self defense instructor."

She blinked dumbly at the hand he extended towards her, before finally snapping out of her reverie. She stretched her own out, feeling his warm, strong grasp as he pumped it up and down, and had to actively stop herself keeping hold of his hand when he began to pull away. She looked up at him, nervously biting her lip.

"Hi," she mumbled, a wave of shyness suddenly washing over her.

He gave her a crooked smile that made her insides melt into a pool that ended up somewhere near her feet, and turned back to the rest of the class, who were all waiting expectantly.

"Ok, ladies," he began, quickly surveying the room. "Looks like everybody's neatly paired up already, so Bella, you can partner with me for today. I'll need someone to help with the demonstrations anyway."

Bella's eyes widened and she looked at Edward nervously. Stand up in front of a room full of strangers, probably making a fool of herself? Edward looked at her terrified expression, and laughed.

"Don't worry," he said, the crooked smile making a reappearance. "It's pretty easy. I promise you won't get hurt."

Looking into his mesmerizing green eyes, Bella found herself strangely unable to refuse this dazzling man, and sighed in defeat. At least she was relatively agile.

"Right," he said, facing the class again and putting on a businesslike face. "First things first – the warm up. Before you undertake any physical activity, you need to stretch out your muscles properly to make sure you don't injure yourself. We can start by jogging on the spot for thirty seconds."

The group started jogging sluggishly, and Bella reluctantly joined them, her face burning as she stood in front of them on her own, but feeling some relief in the fact that Edward was also jogging next to her.

"Ok," he said when the thirty seconds were up. "Next, we need to stretch out our calf muscles. You need your partner for this."

He turned towards Bella, and stretched out his arms in front of him. Her heart started to beat erratically as she realized he was going to touch her, a flush beginning to creep up her face just as her previous embarrassment had finally died down. She couldn't understand what was going on; these feelings strangely foreign to her after so long being ignored by – and avoiding others because of – Felix. Edward's voice continued to carry across the room.

"Put your hands on your partner's shoulders like this. Then lean forward, stretching one leg out behind you and pushing against each others' weight until you feel the stretch in your lower leg." He placed his hands on Bella's shoulders carefully and took a small step backwards with one leg, looking at her expectantly. Her breath hitched as his strong fingers curled delicately over the tops of her shoulders, giving her goosebumps, and as if on automatic pilot, she felt her own arms rise up and stretched to reach her hands to his shoulders. She placed them there lightly, almost afraid to touch him, and immediately felt the warmth of his body radiating through his clothes. She involuntarily clenched her fingers, nails digging into him, and then stopped, suddenly remembering he could feel her. He seemed not to notice. Making sure the rest of the group were following his lead, he gently began to push against Bella, nodding at her to do the same, as he flattened the heel of his outstretched leg into the floor, straightening his knee. Bella followed suit, and felt the stretch on her muscle biting its way painfully up her leg. After a few seconds, Edward straightened up a little, swapping his legs around.

"Ok, now switch legs."

He winked at Bella as she changed legs, causing her to blush again despite her best efforts of self control.

"See, Bella," he said, his voice low as they pushed against each other again. "This isn't so bad, is it?"

As he spoke she winced, and bent her knee a little to counteract the fierce stretch on her out of practice muscle. He laughed quietly at his ironic timing, and she surprised herself by smiling back ruefully.

"It's been a while since I've found the time to work out much. My job gets kind of busy sometimes."

He nodded, smirking.

"Sure. Like I haven't heard that one before."

She scowled, and he laughed loudly as they straightened back up again.

~o0o~

Bella watched as Edward showed them the rest of the warm up exercises, thankfully none of which involved a partner and so allowed her to join the rest of the group and not feel so conspicuous, and did her best to copy him without getting distracted. He then went on to show them the basics of some of the easier moves they were going to learn. Soon, he had them venomously punching and kicking the air, shouting ridiculous non-words at the top of their voices which, he assured them with a straight face, gave their physical movement a surprising amount more force than they would have were they not making a sound. All too soon, it was time for them to partner up again. He beckoned Bella forward, pulling his sweatshirt over his head as he did so, and for the second time that evening Bella found herself staring dumbly at Edward Cullen. He wore a plain white t-shirt which rode up slightly when he raised his arms over his head to expose a flash of lightly tanned skin and abs that looked like they could grate cheese. She swallowed thickly. Throwing his sweatshirt over by the bleachers, he put his hands on Bella's shoulders, directing her to stand facing the class with her back to him.

"Ok," said Edward, speaking to the class. "Partner A, please stand facing forward like Bella. Partner B, you're the bad guys. You need to stand behind your partners, as if you're creeping up on them in a dark, secluded alleyway, and reach one arm over their shoulder, stretching across their chest and grabbing hold of their opposite upper arm." He suddenly stepped in close to Bella, pressing his chest against her back and swinging his right arm across her front, holding her tightly, but not painfully. She fought to keep her face neutral as she felt the rippling muscles hidden by his t-shirt pushing into her back, and resisted the urge inhale deeply as his large bicep tightened across her chest.

"Partner A," Edward began again, the vibrations in his chest sending shivers down Bella's spine, "you now need to escape from partner B. First, you'll do an elbow jab with your right arm, as high up into their chest as you can, almost into their armpit if you're able, then spin around to the right, and slam the palm of your left hand upwards into their chin. Go." Edward squeezed Bella's arm encouragingly, and she nervously tried to move her elbow up, tipping him with it lightly gently before turning around awkwardly and mashing her hand into his face, missing his chin and instead hitting somewhere between his cheek and his ear. She blushed bright red and stepped back from him quickly, withdrawing her arm and trying not to think about how the rough stubble on his cheek had felt against her hand. Edward surveyed the group, most of whom seemed to be in a similar predicament to Bella, and sighed, shaking his head.

"Ladies, that was pathetic," he laughed. "Let's go again. This time, put some emotion into it. Imagine you're out walking alone at night, and some creep of a guy has just grabbed onto you. There's no-one around to hear you cry for help, and you can only imagine what this guy is planning to do to you." He walked up behind Bella again slowly, and grabbed her suddenly in the same way as before, making her jump. "He's stronger than you," he continued, "and you're terrified. You think there's no way you can escape." He had lowered his head, and Bella could now feel his breath lightly on her neck. Suddenly her mind inadvertently flashed back to the last night she had been with Felix. He had been holding her tightly, too tightly. She hadn't been able to move, and she knew, in the back of her mind, she hadn't been sure what he was going to do. She began trembling lightly. "Suddenly," said Edward's low voice, right in her ear now, "you remember your first self defense class." As Edward's grip on her tightened, something snapped inside of Bella. Filled with fury for the pain Felix had caused her, her elbow sprung back strongly, hitting Edward squarely in the chest and causing him to let out a small grunt. Quickly and easily this time, she spun around, raising her arm and feeling her palm connect perfectly with the bottom of his chin, before a large hand grabbed her wrist tightly, stopping her from doing any actual damage.

"Huh," said Edward thoughtfully, once more flashing her that irresistible smile and looking mildly impressed as he let her hand drop. "Girl's got some fight in her after all." He laughed out loud as Bella stood there, breathing hard after her emotion-filled outburst, and spoke to the rest of the group. "Now that's what I want to see. Try it one more time, and then we'll finish up for tonight."

~o0o~

Bella sat on the bleachers, head in her hands, trying to collect herself, as Edward worked his way through the group, watching everybody and giving hints here and there.

"Ok everyone, I think that's about enough for one evening," he said, his voice ringing out across the gym. The other women began to pack up bags and put on coats, heading out into the chilly evening, but Bella stayed where she was, wanting to wait until the parking lot would be empty so she wouldn't have to make small talk. Edward made his way slowly over to her, picking up his hoodie off the ground on the way.

"Hey, Bella, you were really good back there. Did you enjoy the class?"

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but still her voice wavered a little as she answered him.

"Um, yeah, it was good. You're a good teacher."

He quirked his eyebrow, and sat down beside her.

"You ok?"

"I'm fine," she mumbled, "just a little tired, that's all." She began to stand up, knowing she needed to be somewhere alone in case the whirling emotions inside her managed to burst out. "I should get going."

"Oh come on," he scoffed, "it's six in the evening. You're not tired. What's up?"

She looked at him, the handsome man she had met only an hour ago, who had spent a substantial part of that hour in abnormally close proximity to her, and was surprised to see genuine concern on his face. Without realizing what was happening she found herself suddenly bursting into tears, collapsing back down onto the bleacher next to him. Edward's eyes widened in surprise, and he reflexively pulled back just fraction.

"Woah, Bella, are you alright?"

She sniffed loudly, and tried to regain control of her shaky breathing, wiping at her eyes futilely as more tears kept coming.

"I'm sorry," she hiccupped, her voice cracking, "I don't know what's come over me. I promise, I'm fine."

Edward shook his head slowly.

"Bella, you can talk to me. Anything you say won't go outside this room."

She dropped her head into her hands again, her breath still coming in gasps, but the tears slowing.

"It's just... something you said... reminded me of... something that happened to me."

She sat up again, looking at him pathetically, waiting for him to call her a freak and run off as fast as he could. Instead, he raised his hand gently, cautiously, and lightly touched the not-quite-healed cut on her temple. She flinched, and he drew his hand away quickly, but held her gaze.

"Someone did this to you," he said softly. It was more a statement than a question, but Bella still felt the need to justify it with a reply.

"My... ex," she said quietly, closing her eyes. "I ended up in hospital. Then Dr Whitlock, um, I mean, Jasper, gave me your card. He said this could be good for me." She didn't know why she was opening up like this to a complete stranger, but somehow, this felt ok.

Edward smiled sadly.

"Jasper's a good guy. I'm staying with him for a while, until I get myself sorted out. He's right, though. This is the kind of thing that could really help you get your confidence back."

Bella looked at him, amazed that he was even still standing there, let alone that he was suggesting she should come back again. She chewed her lip, and wiped her now red eyes.

"Uh, I'm not so sure you want me back here again next week after... this..."

He laughed once.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? I look forward to seeing you next week, Bella, really." He glanced towards the door, where the jingle of the janitor's keys could be heard coming down the hall, ready to lock up. He stood up, and stretched his hand out to her, pulling her up too. She was reluctant to let go of the warm safety of his hand, but she did, bending down to pick up her water bottle from the floor. They walked out to the parking lot together in amicable silence.

"Do you need a ride somewhere?" Edward stopped next to a shiny, silver Volvo and started fishing in his bag for the keys.

"No, my car's just over there," said Bella, motioning vaguely to the other side of the lot, not wanting to single out her old, battered car after seeing his impressive vehicle. She sniffed one last time, turning to walk in that direction, as he opened his door and began to sit in.

"Hey, Bella?" She stopped, and turned back around, seeing him leaning out of the car door, one foot in, one foot still on the tarmac. "See you next week." He winked at her, and sat fully into the car.

"Goodbye, Edward," she called back, finding herself smiling too, somehow unable to feel sad for too long in this new friend's presence.

So...

What do you guys think of Edward?

;D