DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FROM TWILIGHT. THEY ALL BELONG TO STEPHENIE MEYER. I'M JUST MANIPULATING THEM TO DO MY BIDDING!

Now, there was a little foreshadowing going on in the previous chapter. If anyone can tell me what that was then I'll dedicate the next chapter to you. It was subtle, so you really have to read it if you want to find it. Heehee. Go on! You know you want to :P

EPOV

I couldn't believe this.

In all of the drama that caused my life to change, everything I had ever wanted was happening to me. Granted I would want the circumstances to change, but I wouldn't want the results to change. Not one bit.

I had a group of friends who liked me for me, rather than because I had money. Yeah, they enjoyed the time they spent at my house because of the entertainment centre and the mini movie theatre but I didn't think it would really matter to them if I had them or not. It was me as a person that mattered to them. And that was something that I had never really had before.

In the world that I was originally from and brought up in, nobody bothered to get to know you. Not the real you anyway. All that mattered to them was the size of you banks balance. It was all very shallow. I know that wasn't initially the world that my father had envisioned for me and my mother. It was just the world that we had been thrown into with the aftermath of the success of the company.

That brought on its own set of problems.

Namely, keeping up appearances. Well, in the early days that was it anyway.

In the early days of the company, my father would have to work hard to find inital buyers for his products. But after he had been established for a few years he had worked up enough money so that we could live comfortably. That was all he had wanted for his family. This meant that he had to attend countless galas and charity events, parties and gatherings. Of course he had to take my mother with him, and in turn I had to go, so I could "mingle" with the children of the other guests. Though how you could call it mingling when we were five, I don't know.

But the best thing to happen since I moved to Forks was that Bella Swan was now my girlfriend.

My girlfriend.

I couldn't help grinning when I thought that.

I had never felt this way about anyone before. Yeah, I'd had girlfriends before. But I hadn't really felt anything for them. I'd thought that maybe if I gave it a try, then something would come, but it never did, and I always ended it before it was too late. I didn't like to string someone along when my heart wasn't in it. They weren't too happy about that. I had dated four girls to be exact, but it never really went anywhere. Yeah we kissed, but that was about it. Three of them understood why I was ending it, and even though they were obviously upset, they were actually pretty grown-up about it.

But one girl, she threw a full blown tantrum when I decided to break it off with her. She didn't want to let me go. I know it shouldn't be, but it was actually quite funny. She was standing there, acting like a five year old that had just been denied cookies. She told me that I wouldn't ever find anyone like her again. And that she would get me back. I'd told her that that wasn't going to happen, but she didn't seem to take no for an answer.

When this whole mess with the stalker had first arisen, I'd told my father about what had happened and what she had said and he had had it checked out. That lead had come up empty, as he father had sent her across the country to finish out her school year, because of the ruccus that she had caused. And the photos were being taken recently, so we knew that it wasn't her using old photos of me that she had found. How she would have found photo's of me asleep was another mystery. But then again I didn't like to think about the maniac looking for me right this minute.

That lead had come up as a dead end.

But with Bella it was different.

I actually felt something. I had felt it the first time she looked at me. It was like my whole body froze and my brain refused to function. I hadn't had this experience with anyone before. Ever. It was all new to me, and I was scared, but in the good way. If that was possible. Even when we had just been friends, it was like I felt safe with Bella. Like the rest of the world could be falling down, and burning around us and none of it would matter. The rest of the world just simply fell away.

And now she was my girlfriend.

And I would keep my promise to Jasper and Emmett. I wouldn't hurt her. Ever.

Now that I had been away from it for a couple of weeks, I now felt free. Well, as free as I could with the situation. Of course I still thought in the same way. All the years of "grooming" that Carlisle had put me through, in preparation for taking over the business were still ingrained into my head, but in some ways that was a good thing. There were some lessons that I didn't want to forget. And some things I couldn't forget.

When I was in school, I had even more of a show to put on. There was more of a risk of being discovered in school. Even though my friends were attempting to discover what my secret was, even though I pleaded with them to just drop it. Did they listen? Of course not. If anything this only spurred them on further. No. The reason I had to be more careful in school was because there were more people who could figure me out here. If I made a slip, even the slightest one in school there was more of a risk of it getting around and people working it out than it did if I was with my friends. At least, if they figured it out it would stay between them. If it got out at school, then who knows who else would find out. I had had a few quizzical looks, but other than that people tended to leave me to do as I pleased.

Well, almost everyone.

There were two people in particular who refused to leave me alone. Not because they knew who I was but for other reasons I didn't want to think about. Even before I had ever spoken to them. The warnings that I had had about them were enough to put me off for life.

Lauren Mallory and Jessica Stanley.

Ever since the first day when I caught them looking at me, they had been following me. What with my current situation I wasn't best pleased with that. It freaked me out, to be honest. I had managed to avoid them on my first day, with the help of Jasper. My second day, however, I wasn't so lucky.

Flashback

I had just gotten into school, said bye to the others and needed to stop by my locker to drop something off. I had a book in my bag that weighed a ton. I wouldn't need it until my third class so I figured I might as well leave it in my locker and pick it up on the way there, seeing as I had to pass my locker to get to it anyway.

I had dropped the book off and was closing the door to my locker when I noticed that there was someone standing either side of me. The sudden appearance of these people scared the crap out of me, to say the least. Not something I needed, given the reason I was in this school in the first place.

"Hi," The person to the right of me said. Her voice was sugary, too much so. It was high and sweet. A voice that could, and I figured would get annoying very quickly. "I'm Lauren." She told me.

I looked at her as I closed my locker.

She was tall. Slightly taller than Bella, but not by much. She was nowhere near the height of Rosalie, but then again, very few girls in this place were. She was also blonde and tan, which, given the weather in this dreary little town was obviously fake. She could have been pretty if she hadn't been covered in about an inch of make-up. All in all she was very much like the girls that I was used to flinging themselves at me on a daily basis. All the girls I hated.

"Hi." I said simply. I didn't really want to get into a conversation with this girl. Being honest, she didn't look like she could hold a conversation. Other than one about make-up and magazines of course.

"Hi." The other person, to the left of me called out, as though she was being left out of some sort of deep and mystical conversation. "I'm Jessica."

I took a second to look at this girl as well.

She was short. Shorter than Lauren. I'd say about five feet, if that. She was taller than Alice, but not by much. But Alice carried it off. This girl didn't carry herself in the same way that Alice did. Alice was graceful and could use her height to her advantage. I didn't know how to describe this girl. She had brown hair that could only be described as poofy – yes, I, Edward A. Cullen, just used the word poofy – and bordered on frizzy. She too was tan, which again, must have been fake given the weather in the town. She too wore too much make-up and reminded me off all the girls that I was glad to be away from.

"So," The blonde girl, Lauren, said slowly, in what was meant to be a seductive tone. "We saw you with those losers yesterday. Why don't you spend this lunch with us? I'm sure that you'll have a much better time." She fluttered her eyes at me, something that reminded me of Victoria. That in itself sent shivers up my spine.

"Yeah, we're, like, so much more interesting than those guys." Jessica put in, running her finger down my bicep. I guessed that these girls were trying to flirt with me. Other guys might be taken in by it. Small town guys that is, but, I however, was not. I was used to girls using this kind of behaviour, and being honest I found it rather tedious.

"That I doubt." I replied shortly, itching to get away from the duo.

"Well, why don't you sit with us at lunch, and then we can prove it to you." Jessica said, still running her fingers up and down my bicep, making me feel more and more uncomfortable by the second.

"Whatever." I made that my departing line and walked off towards my homeroom. I heard them giggling and gushing as I left.

"Oh, my God. He so wants you!" I heard one of them say to the other giggling.

"I know right." The other said confidently and I almost stopped to throw up right then and there. Okay, major Victoria flashback. Not good, not good.

I just walked away from them, not looking back as I went.

End Flashback

Needless to say, I didn't go and sit with them at lunch.

That didn't seem to deter them at all though. Something that annoyed me.

I just hoped that they would leave me alone now that I had Bella as my girlfriend, but another part of my brain, the pessimistic part didn't think so. No, that was wrong. The pessimistic part of my brain knew that wouldn't happen.

I was walking from my third class on the way to the cafeteria.

"Yo, Edward." Someone called me, and I turned around.

It was Mike Newton.

He was an alright guy, in some ways. He thought that he was Mr. Popular, but that kind of thing didn't bother me. I guess that the girls must think he's cute. I've heard some of them saying that he's got the whole Californian Beach Boy look going on. I guess that must be because he has blonde hair and blue eyes. I didn't really pay attention to when girls spoke about other guys. I only listened when they spoke about me, so I could judge whether or not they knew anything close to the truth.

None of them ever did, but it was still a good idea to keep an ear out. Most of the comments that girls made about me made me feel quite ill actually. How glad I was knowing that I couldn't get into these girls heads. I think I might need therapy afterwards.

"What's up Mike?" I asked, coming to a stop, avoiding some other kids that were walking behind me. He came up to me, lightly tossing a basketball up and down in his hands.

"We were just wondering if you were gonna rethink?" He was indicating at the basketball now. He had seen that I could play when Emmett had challenged me to a one on one game, which I narrowly won, and he had been bugging me to join the school team ever since. I didn't want to draw any unneeded attention to myself. It was better that way.

"About joining the team?" He nodded. "Sorry, Mike, but the answers still no."

"Come on, man," This was the way it went every single time. "You're the best player we've seen in ages. Do you know how much you could help the team?" Yes, I did know. The team sucked. Not blowing my own horn or anything, but my being on the team would definitely bring Forks out of the rut it was in.

I shook my head. "Sorry, Mike. I've got other priorities." Like you wouldn't believe, I thought to myself. I turned to walk away from him before he could start his next line of "what about the ladies"? crap. Not like I was bothered by that anyway. I didn't want any of them. I had Bella now.

Before I could walk two steps, I was cut off. Jessica and Lauren stood in front of me.

"Well, well, well, Eddie." Lauren said in a mock disapproving tone. "We're still waiting for you to drop that loser squad and come and sit with the rest of us. You know, the interesting ones."

"First, don't call me Eddie. It's Edward. Nothing else." I told her in a cold tone. "And, anybody else would have got the message that I don't want to sit with you. And that "loser squad" as you so happen to call them, are my friends and girlfriend. So if you would refrain from calling them that, it would be much appreciated."

"Now, now. I think I misheard you." Jessica giggled. "I could have sworn that you just said your "girlfriend"." She giggled that annoying giggle again and this time Lauren joined in as if it was some kind of joke.

I pretended to think for a moment. "No, you heard right." I said that and their giggles stopped immediately.

"What?" Lauren sounded furious for some reason. Oh, yeah, she thought I liked her. "You're saying that Swan is your girlfriend?" She sneered her name and that got me really angry.

"First off, her name is Bella. Not Swan." I told her, trying to keep my voice even. "And second, yes, she is my girlfriend. Now if you'll excuse me." I pushed past them but Lauren grabbed my arm.

"Now, Eddie." She her voice had an unusual tone to it. "I know you're just saying that to make me upset, but I know the tricks, bad boy. Now I forgive you for lying and I already want you, so why don't we get together after school?"

I scrunched up my eyes and shook my head. "What?" Did I really just hear what I think I did? "What are talking about? I don't want you Lauren. That's the whole point. But what I do want, is for you to leave me alone, okay?" I took her hand off my arm. "Think you can manage that?"

"Alright, I'll humour you for now, Eddie." She said, giggling. "Until you come around."

I closed my eyes and shook my head in exasperation. "Leave me alone, Lauren." I turned around, walking towards the cafeteria. "And its Edward!" I called back to them. Not that they would be paying any attention to me in the first place.

I walked into the cafeteria and stood in the line to get some food. I grabbed a pasta salad thing, an apple and a can of coke. I was being healthy, for the most part anyway. After paying for my food I walked over to the table I usually sat at with my friends. Bella was already there, which made me smile. But then I saw Lauren and Jessica smiling at me which just made my skin crawl. They were everything I hated about girls. They were fake and two-faced, self-centered and shallow. Just like pretty much every girl I had ever met, minus the three decent ones I had gone out with, Rosalie, Alice and Bella. Of course Bella was the complete opposite of those two. She was perfect.

Even if she didn't see it, to me she was.

I didn't care that people said that no one could be perfect. If they said that then they obviously hadn't met Bella.

Man, I had it bad.

But you know what? I really didn't care. I was falling for Bella and I had no problem with it. My only worry was that I would have to leave her when I had to go back to Chicago. Would she ever forgive me? I had told Jasper, Emmett and myself that I wouldn't, that I couldn't hurt her, but in the end, just being with her was going to hurt her. It hurt to think of the day when I would have to leave.

Rosalie and Emmett were sat down as well, but they were too wrapped up in each other to notice my approach. I was used to this. At first I thought it was a bit self-absorbed, but over the weeks I came to realise that they truly loved each other and just wanted to spend every moment they could in each other's company. Bella looked up shot me a grin when I sat down and I couldn't help but lean in and press my lips to hers. She relaxed into the kiss almost instantly and I felt a smile form on my lips as I pulled away from her.

"Hi to you too." She said smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." I shrugged and opened my pasta salad.

"Don't apologise. I liked it." Her smile got bigger now. "Actually, I would insist that you greet me in that way every time you see me." After the words came out of her mouth she blush a deep red which made me chuckle.

I placed a finger underneath her chin and lifted her head up so she had to look at me. "Is that a request?" I asked, flashing her the grin that she told me she loved.

"No." She said indignantly, before leaning in and pressing her lips to mine again, in a deeper kiss than the one I had given her. "It's a demand." She mumbled against my lips and I could feel my lips turning up in a smile.

"Well," I mumbled without breaking the kiss. "I think that's a demand I can live with."

I broke the kiss and smiled at her, taking her hand in my own, running my thumb over the back of her hand.

"Oh shit." She whispered, looking sheepish.

"What is it?" I asked her, confused.

"Nothing." She said, too quickly, glancing up from her food.

I looked over to where she had glanced and saw Lauren and Jessica glaring at her. That was it. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her onto my lap. She gasped slightly at my action, but quickly smiled at me, resting her head on my shoulder, sighing happily.

"Better?" I asked her and she nodded.

"Much."

"Good." I kissed the top of her head. "Wouldn't want you to be upset now would we?" I asked her rhetorically. She sighed against my chest and we sat there for a few minutes, our food completely forgotten.

"Aww, you guys are so cute." I heard Alice before I saw her. I looked up at the same time Bella did and she was skipping towards us, a huge grin on her face.

She sat down next to Rosalie and Jasper sat next to her.

Emmett looked away from Rosalie and grinned at Bella and I. He looked between us and our forgotten food. "You gonna eat that?" He asked Bella and in response her stomach growled loudly.

I laughed and she blushed. "I think so." I told Emmett and he scowled like a child. I couldn't help but laugh.

Bella made to get off my lap, but I held her there and pouted at her. "Where you going?" I asked her and she looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Getting off your lap." She said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why?"

"Because you can't eat with me on your lap." She told me, though she didn't try to move again.

"Sure I can." I grinned at her and she rolled her eyes at me. "Do you want to get off my lap?"

"No," She said quietly and I grinned, kissed her neck gently.

"See, now why would I want you to move?" I asked her. "I quite like having you right where you are." I told her and she smiled.

"Really?" She sounded as though she didn't really believe me.

"Really really." I smiled at her and she leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to my lips.

We looked at the others to find Alice and Rosalie looking at us as though they were about to bounce up and down and squeal or at least let out the biggest "aww" the world has ever heard, which knowing these two, wouldn't surprise me. Emmett had decided he was going to attack the pizza that he had gotten to eat and Jasper was munching on some chips, seeming lost in his own little world.

Bella grabbed her sandwich and took a large bite, causing me to grin. I picked up my fork and dug into my pasta. It wasn't half bad actually. But then again I came to the conclusion that the cafeteria probably hadn't made it themselves. That's probably why. I would have to remind myself to ask Mary to make me some lunch. Her cooking really was to die for. The others agreed. I wouldn't give her up for anything.

"Hi, Eddie." Now there was a voice that made me ready to throw up everything that I'd just eaten. Wouldn't these girls take a hint? Obviously not.

"Girls." I said, not looking at them, my voice void of emotion. I knew that Jessica would be there with Lauren, so I just decided to greet them as a collective.

I heard the chair next to me move and I knew one of them, Lauren most likely, had sat down. I felt a hand on my bicep and I knew that it wasn't Bella's because she had one of her hands entangled with mine and the other was on my knee.

"What do you want?" I asked her coldly, glaring at her.

"There's no need to be like that Eddie." She said, batting her eyelashes at me, as if it was cute. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm having a party on Saturday night, and I want you to come." The way she said it made sure that the others knew they weren't welcome.

"Sorry, busy." I told her bluntly.

"Really?" She asked disbelieving. "What are you doing?"

"We're going on a triple date aren't we, guys?" Bella piped up, looking at the others who all nodded and mumbled their agreement. I noticed that they were all very interested in what was happening.

"Yup." I confirmed and Lauren looked …… well, she looked pissed to say the least.

"Well, maybe my next one." She said, that annoying smile flashing across her face.

"Lauren!" Rosalie snapped. I was waiting for this. Rosalie hated Lauren and Jessica. For what reason I didn't push, but I knew that she had a good reason to. And when Rosalie was pissed you never questioned her. "When are you going to get it into your head? He's with Bella now! He's not interested. Now get lost."

Lauren didn't say anything to Rosalie. She knew better than that. She just sat there and glared at her. A glare that Rosalie returned with her own cold stare. That stare unnerved me, and I was friends with Rosalie, so who knew what that did to someone she didn't like. After a moment, Lauren just huffed and stalked away.

"Thanks." I said to Rosalie and she shot me a smile.

"No problem." She said, picking up her apple and taking a bite. "I've been looking for a reason to pick a fight with that bitch for a while now, so, hey, this was the best time." She sat and thought for a minute, chewing her apple. "Maybe I should "accidentally" bump into her in the toilets and "persuade" her to leave you alone. Would that help?"

"Uh, no." I laughed. "No offence Rose, but knowing you, you wouldn't let her leave alive." I chuckled and she shrugged nonchalantly.

"Maybe, maybe not." She took another bite of her apple. "Oh, no offence taken. It's probably true." She laughed and I couldn't help but grin.

"What was all that about anyway?" Alice asked me, looking at me quizzically.

"For some reason, she and Jessica have got it into their heads that I like Lauren." I shuddered at the thought. "Probably because I didn't run screaming when they cornered me on my second day."

"That would have been the best thing to do." Bella laughed.

"Sure you tell me that now." I mumbled and she grinned at me. "I only avoided them on my first day because of Jazz. Thanks for that man."

"You're welcome." He replied, grinning at me.

"I've had to deal with girls like them before, I can't stand them." I told them, biting into my own apple.

"Ooh," Alice said, smirking. "Could we be hearing another little tidbit of Edward Masen's past. He's met girls like them before. Not good. You don't like them. That is good. Care to elaborate?"

"On what?" I asked confused.

"You know, previous girlfriends." Emmett encouraged.

"I don't know you guys." Honestly there wasn't anything incriminating in that part of my life, but I just didn't feel comfortable talking about ex-girlfriends when my current girlfriend was sitting on my lap. "Not right now."

"Oh come on." Emmett whined. "It'll be fun."

"Oh, hows that?" I countered and he just sat there and stared at me. "Uh-huh, there you go." I took another bite from my apple and smirked.

"Okay, enough of that." Bella said, turning into the mediator in the conversation. Which was probably a good thing, because of what I had learned of Emmett over the last couple of weeks, he could make this situation very embarrassing for Bella and I. "Bells about to go anyway." She stood up and the warning bell for the end of lunch rang. I instantly missed the closeness that we had been sharing while she had been on my lap.

We had only been together for a day, and I was feeling this way. Yeah, I had it bad.

I stood up and took Bella's hand and saying goodbye to the others, we made our way to Biology.

Sitting down at our usual table, I noticed Jessica walking in, glaring at Bella and batting her eyelashes at me. Jeez, she just doesn't give up! I thought frustrated. Neither of them do! I leaned over and kissed Bella's jaw gently, causing her to close her eyes and lean into it. She smiled at me as I pulled back and grinned at her. She kissed my cheek just as Mr. Banner started his lecture.

I didn't pay attention to what he was saying. All I knew was that I had already done this class. Last year, if I remembered correctly. This class was so far behind it wasn't even funny.

I looked at Bella and she was doodling on her pad. I shifted in my seat and saw that she was drawing a very intricate looking flower. It was beautiful. I hadn't guessed for a minute that she would be interested in this class. She was too intelligent for her own good.

That was one thing that made her amazing and yet dangerous to be around. It was amazing to be around her because I knew that a conversation with her would be more than something to take at face value. She actually thought about what she was going to say, and she cared about what she discussed. It was amazing to find someone like that, as very few girls like that actually existed. Or at least, that I've found.

It was dangerous because her intelligence caused her to overthink things. As it did with me. I was smart, I knew that. My 4.0 showed that off, but I tended to overthink things, and my years of "grooming" had caused me to develop a business-like mind. I always evaluated things. Even when I shouldn't. It had become second nature now. It had its advantages …… sometimes. Bella on the other hand, she overthought things but in a different way. She delved deep into things. If she wanted to discover the answer to something she would do whatever she could to find it. That was the most worrying thing about her. I knew that she had promised not to push me on what I was holding back on, but I had a feeling that she was still trying to work it out.

What will she do if she does find out? I thought, suddenly worried.

A million different scenarios ran through my mind. All of them as possible as the next. I didn't want to think of what would happen if and when Bella found out, but I had a gut feeling that I would lose her.

Somehow I knew that was unavoidable.

The bell rang, breaking my train of thought. Had I really been out of it that long? Obviously so.

I heard Bella groan and mumble something about hating gym. I had a quick thought. I grabbed her hand and led her to sit in front of the nurse's office.

"What're you-" She started but I cut her off.

"Sit here and look sick." I told her and she looked at me quizzically and accusingly before she sat down and put her head in her hands. She started breathing heavily as though she felt like she was going to throw up. I had to hand it to her, she might be a bad liar, but she sure knew how to act. I knew that her face was probably bright red at the moment, so it was a good thing that her hair was covering it from view. That would have given us away straight away.

"Can I help you?" The nurse asked us.

"Yes, Bella's really not feeling well." I told her, injecting as much worry and feeling into my voice as possible. "I was thinking I should take her home."

She looked over at Bella who still had her head in her hands and was still breathing erratically and heavily. If I hadn't come up with this idea I would have thought that she really was sick. She looked at me and nodded. "Okay then. Do you need me to excuse you Mr. Masen?" She asked me.

I shook my head. "No I have a free. That's why I was able to bring her here." The nurse nodded at me again, indicating that I could take Bella now.

I walked over to Bella and "helped" her up, taking her bag for her. I put my arm around her waist and we walked out of the nurse's office. We had to carry on walking like that seeing as you could see the parking lot from the nurses office.

Once we got into my Volvo, the questions started.

"What was that?" She asked me accusingly, the signs of a laugh in her voice.

"What?" I turned on the ignition. "You sounded like you didn't want to go to Gym, so I saved you." I grinned at her and she giggled.

"What, you gonna do that for me every time I have Gym?" She asked raising her eyebrows at me.

"Trust me, if I could, then I would." I picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles gently. "I know how much you hate Gym, and I thought I'd steal you today."

"So where are we going?" She asked me, looking out the window, but not letting go of my hand.

"Um, my place?" I asked her, looking over to see her smiling. She hadn't been over to my house on her own. It had always been with the group and I think she was looking forward to being able to see more of it than the living room. "That alright?" I asked and she nodded. "Well, that's good then."

The drive was spent in a comfortable silence. Another thing I loved about Bella was that she, like me, didn't feel the need to fill the air with needless chit-chatter, when sitting in silence was just as good an option. There are some things that don't need to be said aloud. They could be said with looks and touches, say in the holding of hands.

We pulled up to my house and I saw Bella's eyes get slightly wider. I chuckled. I knew that it didn't matter how many times she came here, she would always have the same reaction to my house. I loved it. It was so cute. You would have thought that she had just been told it was hers.

I got out of the car and walked around to open her door, something I insisted on doing. I may be a rich kid, but my mother still raised me to be a gentleman. Something I wasn't going to be forgetting now of all times.

I walked up to the door and let the both of us in, taking Bella's jacket from her. She walked through to the kitchen and sat herself down on one of the chairs. I followed her in after hanging up my own jacket and saw her gazing around. I remembered that she hadn't really seen the house.

"You want a tour?" I asked her and she nodded. I held out my hand for her to take and she stood up, her hand grasping my own. I was amazed at how well her hand fit into mine. Like it was made for my hand and mine alone. I took her on a tour of the house, leaving out the living room, because she had already become well acquainted with that room.

Leading her around the house took about half an hour to do, as there were quite a few doors and rooms that she wanted to see.

I led her up the last flight of stairs to where the last room was and opened the door. She walked in in front of me. "Yeah, um, this is my room."

I saw her eyes go wide at the size of my bed. It was large, I'll admit that, but I didn't think it warranted that kind of reaction. Unless she was imagining what we could be doing in that bed. That made me smile.

She turned around and surveyed the room, taking in the almost full bookcase of journals that I had amassed over the years. I wasn't ashamed to say that I wrote in a journal. A lot of the time I didn't have any other way of getting my feelings out, so writing them down seemed like the best way for me. There were a lot of them. Let's just say I have a lot of feelings and a lot of time to vent them out.

"Journals?" She asked me, pointing at the many shelves of them.

"Yeah." I smiled sheepishly at her and she looked to them. She didn't want to read them did she? She couldn't. That would give me away instantly. How to get her to not want to read them? "I wouldn't read those." I told her slowly. "Unless you have trouble sleeping." She turned and laughed at me for saying that. "What?"

"You're cute." She blushed at me, turning away from the journals. Crisis averted on that one, I thought triumphantly, trying not to let it show on my face.

She moved around my room as I went and sat on my couch watching her. She was fascinated by everything in the room. It didn't escape my notice that her gaze flicked to my journals numerous times. I could tell that she was itching to read them. I couldn't let that happen. Not until I was ready for her to know, or until the threat was erased. I would have to keep her away from those journals at all costs.

As if on cue her stomach growled again and I had to laugh as she blushed.

"Hungry are we?" I asked her raising my eyebrows and she nodded slowly. I stood up from the couch and took her hand. I led her down the stairs, walking slightly in front of her, in case she tripped. "What do you want?"

"Anything'll do." She said quietly, still taking in her surroundings. Somehow I knew that she was thinking about the journals in my room. In those pages were the secrets that she was so desperate to know. Things that she couldn't know.

Not yet anyway.

We walked into the kitchen and she walked over to the fridge, looking through it for anything that she'd want to eat. I'd heard from Emmett and the others, mostly Emmett, that she was an amazing cook. I would have to convince her to make me something at some point.

"You want anything?" She asked, glancing at me before looking back into the fridge.

"Whatever you're having will be great." I told her and she looked at me blushing again. I smiled thinking that it was me that brought that blush to her cheeks. I loved it.

I walked over to the table and saw a package on it. It was a bundle of letters that my father sent to me each week. Under my fake name of course so that no one would guess that that wasn't my real name.

I picked it up and opened it as Bella started to busy herself in the kitchen. I briefly wondered what Mary would say knowing that someone else had been cooking in the kitchen. Even if we had everything else put back immaculately she would know that someone had been cooking in here, even before she looked in the fridge. She had some kind of sixth sense.

Opening it I saw the normal letters that were in there. Letters from both my mother and father, a couple from "friends" that I had left behind. I never bothered to read those ones. They would only be conceited and stuck up. I left my parents letters for when I was on my own. They always made me emotional. I guess not being with them was taking its toll on me. Their letters were always filled with so much emotion, especially my mothers. They were hard to read and reply to. But I did it. I had to. I had to be strong for the two of them. I would see them again. I promised myself that.

The last letter in the package had a type written address on it. I took it out making sure that Bella wouldn't be able to see that it was addressed to Edward A. Cullen instead of Edward A. Masen. I ripped open the envelope, took out the letter and stuffed it back into the package, quickly enough so that she wouldn't notice. She knew that I got a package of letters from my mother and father each week so the presence of the package of letters wasn't a big deal. It wasn't a big deal for any of them really. Not anymore.

I unfolded the letter to see something that made my blood run cold. I physically felt all the blood drain from my face.

I put my hands on the table as my vision started to blur. This couldn't be happening. This wouldn't happen.

"Edward?" Bella sounded alarmed. "Edward are you okay? What's wrong?" She walked over to me and tried to take the letter from me, knowing that it was the source of my discomfort. I kept it from her reach and she guided me down and sat me in a chair.

I sat there for a few minutes, trying to clear my head, get my breathing back to normal and trying to comprehend and at the same time forget what was written on the piece of paper in my hand.

Edward,

Don't worry. I will find you.

See you soon.

What the hell was I going to do?

Oooo, don't worry, Edward's safe …….. for now. *laughs ominously*
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Don't forget, if you can figure out the foreshadowing in the previous chapter then I'll give you a mention in the next. I only want PMs though. Any reviews with the foreshadowing ideas will be deleted, I don't want to give away anything that could be linked to the story.
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