Disclaimer: Obviously I am not Stephanie Meyer. I am generously using her characters. All of the dialogue comes directly from the book Twilight or her unpublished manuscript Midnight Sun, thus it all remains the property of Stephanie Meyer as well as the overall plot. This is merely a rewrite from Edward's PoV. That means that everything is hers and I just explored it a bit.

(Updates 6 Mar 18)


Eventually she looked into my eyes and spoke as if the words were spilling out without thought, "My mother got remarried."

Relieved at a drop of information, at least she had given me something. I recalled everything I knew about human divorces, custody arrangements, and human parenting. Honestly it wasn't much, but the logical conclusion since she was here with her dad was that her mother, … or perhaps the new father? … sent her away.

While I contemplated the possibilities I said sympathetically, "That doesn't sound so complex. When did that happen?"

The sympathy in my voice confused me. Was I sympathetic? I searched myself. I suppose I was. I knew the challenges that can arise from new family members being added. Why was I being sympathetic? To that question, I did not have an answer. Through the years I had attempted to always be courteous to the humans around me, but sympathetic? No. This was new and curious and odd.

"Last September," she responded sadly.

The sadness in her voice must have meant that I was on the right track. I felt some of my internal tension release. See, I can have a civil conversation with this girl and leave a good impression. Then any problem or concern I might have caused last time would be gone.

The stepfather being the problem seemed the more likely of the two possibilities that I had considered. "And you don't like him," I said as if that concluded the conversation.

"No, Phil is fine. Too young, maybe, but nice enough," she retorted.

I thought about following up to ask about the mother, but stopped myself realizing, before I spoke that line of reasoning, that it might have seemed too forceful for human conversation. So I thought about how to quench my curiosity in a more subtle way.

I settled on, "Why didn't you stay with them?"

"Phil travels a lot. He plays ball for a living," she answered while she smiled slightly.

Okay, her explanations were making more sense. It was not that she didn't like him or he her, simply that he travelled too much for her needs. The smile did seem to match her words though.

I wondered if he would be someone my brothers or I would know, so I asked her, "Have I heard of him?" smiling back, slightly relieved that we seemed to be avoiding landmines and my goal of a good impression seemed to be working.

Going through my mental list of all the ballplayers I knew of whose first name was Phil or Philip, I attempted to gain a better understanding of this man who had caused the vain of my existence to move to a place she didn't like.

"Probably not. He doesn't play well. Strictly minor league. He moves around a lot," she answered.

Frustrating. Guess I wouldn't have heard at him. That was not helpful. So if it was just the stepfather's job, and they were newly married, then … I stated what seemed to be the obvious conclusion, "And your mother sent you here so that she could travel with him."

She raised her chin a fraction as if gathering herself and stated emphatically, "No, she did not send me here. I sent myself."

And then I was confused again. How did a seventeen-year-old human girl send herself somewhere? If she didn't like the rain or the cold why would she move herself to Forks from Arizona? My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Unsure about what else to say and loathing being ignorant on a topic I admitted, "I don't understand."

When was the last time I didn't understand something let alone admit to it? When was the last time something was novel? My frustration was beginning to overwhelm my curiosity now. I sat looking at her curiously trying to figure her out and what she was saying in this strange conversation.

"She stayed with me at first, but she missed him. It made her unhappy … so I decided it was time to spend some quality time with Charlie," she explained sounding glum.

So she didn't want to move, but did because being there was making her mother unhappy? I think that was it, but what an odd thing to decide to do at her age.

"But now you're unhappy," I pointed out. Stating the obvious.

"And?" she challenged back.

"That doesn't seem fair," I stated.

If I had been in this girl's shoes, would I have made a similar decision? Being truthful with myself, I concluded that I probably would not, given my selfishness. Had I not just shown this character flaw in my return to Forks? This was probably one of the biggest differences between Carlisle and I. He, in contrast, usually acts unselfishly. The most selfish thing he has done in his life was to change Esme, Rosalie, and myself. I, on the other hand, stay with my family selfishly. Most of what I do, including protecting my family, if I were honest, was selfish. Great! I had been perfectly happy without that self-realization. Now I knew one more way that I had failed to meet my father's standards. Especially irritating was the realization that this young insignificant girl shared more in common with Carlisle's character than I. And for the briefest of moments I wondered if Carlisle was as self-less before his change as Bella. I would imagine so.

She laughed dryly, which caught my attention as it surprised me, and said, "Hasn't anyone ever told you? Life isn't fair."

Reflecting on my own existence, "I believe I have heard that somewhere before" was all that I could manage to say.

"So that's all" she said as if that ended the conversation.

Looking at her intently, I attempted to piece together what she had just said, while also trying to understand the message hidden underneath the words, the subcontext that I usually heard through telepathy. Instead, I wasn't sure if my conjecture was anywhere close. Relying instead on my intellectual capacity, I stated somewhat slowly, so I could have time to analyse her reactions, and focused on her face. "You put on a good show, but I'd be willing to bet that you're suffering more than you let anyone see."

She responded with a grimace and then looked away. What kind of answer was that? That didn't confirm my hypothesis or reject it, so I decided to ask her straight out, "Am I wrong?"

No answer, which confirmed to me that my hypothesis was right. How interesting.

"I didn't think so," I stated softly but confidently and perhaps a bit smugly, lost in my thoughts. Maybe I wasn't as awful at reading humans without my telepathy as I had first thought.

Abruptly she said irritatingly, while watching the teacher as if she wasn't really talking to me, which was all a bit strange, as most humans prefer to look at the person they're talking to, "Why does it matter to you?"

Well, that was a good question. Why did it matter to me? Had my quest to dispel any questions and ill will she harboured turned into something more? Certainly curiosity, but did I care? Did her state of being matter to me at all? Lost in my thoughts I mumbled to myself, "That's a very good question."

After a few seconds of silence, as I pondered her question, she made this rather emphatic sigh as she scowled at the blackboard. It was as if my attempt at dispelling any ill will was irritating her. Did she prefer the first impression I had given her? Who would prefer a monster? That seemed highly unlikely. Hum. What an interesting creature.

"Am I annoying you?" I asked slightly amused by this turn.

She took her eyes off the blackboard and glanced at me then stated, "Not exactly. I'm more annoyed at myself. My face is so easy to read—my mother always calls me her open book," and then she frowned.

So, she was not annoyed at the conversation or at me? She was annoyed with herself, assuming, of course, that she was telling the truth. More than that, she was annoyed that my hypothesis was accurate, but not at me. No, instead she was annoyed at her own face because she assumed that she was readable. Wow! How did she keep that straight in her head?

I felt the need to alleviate her assumption that I had read her easily. Attempting to be gentle and earnest I said, "On the contrary, I find you very difficult to read."

"You must be a good reader then," she replied immediately.

"Usually," was my answer. I smiled at my own ironic joke. The one person I could not telepathically read thought I was a good reader. That must be one of the most ironic statements ever.

Mr. Banner called the class to order. With my curiosity sufficiently satisfied I found the monster rearing its head even stronger than when class had started. I reasoned that this was probably because when my curiosity had distracted me from the monster I hadn't been paying as much attention to contain it as I should have. The scent of her in my lungs was hard to ignore. It didn't take me over, but still I had to lean away from her and grip the edge of the table to remind myself of where I was and who I was rather than whom the monster wanted me to be.

Unfortunately, my grip took out some of the corrugated wood in perfect finger holes. Destroying evidence of non-human abilities was one of the first rules of my family, so I worked at changing the composition of the holes, so no one could guess it was my grasp. I left as quickly as allowed when the bell rang.

I gave myself enough time to get some fresh air, before going to my next class. One more period surrounded by humans to endure, and then I could leave. As I counted the minutes, the period seemed to go extraordinarily slow. I kept going over my conversation with Bella in my head. At the end of the period I still hadn't made heads or tails of it.

I was at my Volvo leaning against it, waiting for my siblings, enjoying having only slightly human scented air to breathe when I watched Bella cross the parking lot. She got into her truck's cab startling herself at the loud sound of the engine–the volume of her engine was not surprising given the age of her truck–put down the hood of her coat, and fluffed her hair. She looked in my direction, and appeared to have noticed me watching her. She put the truck into reverse and gassed it, almost hitting a rusty Toyota Corolla. Fortunately, she stomped on the breaks before there was contact. She then tried a second time, being very timid about it, as if she were a danger to society. This time she successfully exited without any near accidents.

I tried to conceal my laughter, but I don't think I did a great job of it. This girl whose driving capacity caused her to behave as if she were the danger to society was the reason I ran away from home! How ridiculous! I was the danger here.

Twice now I had beaten back the monster. In that moment I was glad I had come back. Most importantly, today's Biology class was easier than the last. It was bound to just get easier from here. I was well on my way to convincing myself. The plan would work; with the perspective I held it seemed more straightforward than it had at lunch. I would just hunt more as a precaution. Since I knew what to expect, it would be fine. Her scent was especially strong, but I was stronger. The monster would not win.