Ah, Edward again! Only one more chapter after this… :-(

I've tried to Americanise my writing as much as possible – hopefully it isn't too clunky!!

Thanks to my amazing beta, Amanda, for her encouragement! And for not minding being bombarded with new chapters and new re-writes!

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer – I'm just playing with them!

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I approached the house and sighed as Alice opened the door to me. She greeted me with a dazzling smile that I knew could only mean trouble.

Time for school! she trilled at me in her head. She managed to convey exactly the same annoying tone as if she had said it out loud. Or perhaps I was just so used to it that I heard it every time she spoke to me. I didn't know. And I didn't care. She had spoken (albeit mentally) the dreaded word. School.

We had been at Forks High School for almost a month now, and I met each new dawn with the same amount of trepidation and unbridled loathing as I had on the very first day.

'I'm not going,' I hissed between clenched teeth.

Try telling that to Esme, she said, her wide grin stretching even further. She enjoyed watching me suffer, I knew she did. She claimed that she was more interested in how I interacted with humans, but I remained firmly unconvinced. She delighted in my pain.

Alice rolled her eyes at me, as though she knew exactly what I was thinking. Which she probably did. My favourite sister knew me best out of all my siblings, and she more often than not knew my thoughts as soon as I did, despite the fact that I was the one with the gift of mind reading.

Don't you want to find out what happened at the beach? Alice asked.

I had filled Alice and Carlisle in on what had transpired between myself and Lauren Mallory. Alice, of course, had foreseen the whole thing and so I felt it only right to fill her in on the details she didn't know. When it came to Carlisle… I had discovered very early into my relationship with the older vampire that it was almost impossible to hide things from him. I felt it best, however, not to share the information with Rosalie, who would be contemptuous and mocking, Jasper, who would be bemused by the actions of humans that he did not understand, Emmett, who would have found the whole event hilarious, or Esme, who would have been sympathetic to the point of tears.

I shook my head. 'I'm not interested in the whims and follies of humans,' I informed her with a tone of superiority. 'Every human is the same, and I have absolutely no fascination with their childish worries.'

Alice rolled her eyes again. Edward, you are the most annoyingly superior vampire. If you don't get interested soon, you're going to die of boredom at school. Or possibly just waste away in to condescending nothingness.

Edward! I would like to speak with you, if you have a moment. Carlisle's voice broke through Alice's and I smiled at my sister, glad of the opportunity to escape.

I sped through the house and barely paused outside the door to Carlisle's study before throwing the door open. He had been careful not to think about the conversation he was to have with me on my way to his room and so I was, for a change, completely in the dark.

Edward. I wanted to have a word with you before you left for school. I nodded. That much was obvious; it wasn't like Carlisle to beat around the bush.

I wanted to speak to you, in fact, about school. About how you intend to handle the Mallory girl. I feel you must be very careful; you risk giving too much away if you are indelicate. It would also be best not to upset the girl further; you do not wish to draw too much attention to yourself.

I grimaced. That stupid girl was going to make things difficult. I could not work out if she would try to interact with me any more than she already had. 'Mmm,' I responded indistinctly.

Edward, please take this seriously. I know you do not wish for any further attention to be lavished upon you, but you must realise that humans can be extremely erratic in their behaviour. You cannot rely upon the fact that your talk with her will have loosened all attachment she may have felt to you.

'I know,' I muttered, more to stop Carlisle's oration than due to actual interest. Humans were, and I had spent decades confirming the suspicion so I knew it to be entirely true, extremely stupid. We were designed to attract our prey, I knew, but so much about us screamed danger, that it surprised me some humans could form attachments to vampires. Esme had, of course, when she had first met Carlisle in the hospital when she was sixteen, but she was unusual. Or at least so I had assumed. I knew that most humans were uncomfortable near us, but that didn't stop them finding us attractive.

Lauren, however, had been quite close to me, and had seemingly suffered no ill effects, no fear, from my proximity. Mike Newton, on the other hand, had been positively disturbed by my closeness, I had been enormously satisfied to note.

'Edward?' Carlisle asked, interrupting my reverie. I had been so caught up in my own contemplations that he had had to speak out loud to acquire my attention. That was unusual, and I was slightly embarrassed to realise it. These humans had me more intrigued than I cared to admit, especially to Alice.

'Sorry, Carlisle. I was just… thinking.'

Carlisle smiled gently. 'That much was obvious. Now you should go. Esme is waiting to take you to school.'

***

I whiled away the time in the car (Esme drove annoyingly slowly, even when the roads were empty. She was so determined to retain our human appearance it infuriated me.) by contemplating my dilemma with the humans. I had resolved not to do anything unless I felt it was necessary just as we pulled up to the school gates. Esme dropped us off with a cheery 'Have a good day', which Rosalie, Jasper and I groaned at, and disappeared around the corner. I envied her freedom to do whatever she wanted.

'Come on, Edward!' sang Alice, slipping her arm through mine. 'It's going to be fun today, I just know it!'

I looked down at the diminutive vampire next to me. 'Do you know that, or know that?' I asked, the emphasis making my meaning clear.

She grinned. 'Nope, no knowing in it. Call it human intuition.' She over-emphasised the word in a ridiculous imitation of me and grinned. I was getting sick of that perceptive smirk. 'Come on, it's time for American History!' Only Alice could get so excited about learning things we'd not only been taught a hundred times, but lived through.

***

I sat lifelessly in my seat as I was taught, for the tenth or eleventh time (I didn't care enough to be specific, even though I knew the exact number and dates of each lesson), about the American War of Independence. You'd have thought that even the humans would be able to absorb the knowledge after being taught the same thing in Middle School, but from the answers my fellow students were giving, apparently not.

I let my mind wander around the school, curious against my better judgement to see how Lauren Mallory was faring after our altercation. Her mind was simple, immature and self-absorbed to a point which repulsed me, but I had had not had direct interaction with humans in so long, that I was intrigued on a purely selfish level.

I know that Tyler likes me. So I'll have to see if I can get him to ask me out. Just because Edward Cullen fails to see how amazing I am, doesn't mean that any of the other guys can't see it. And since they found out that that weird blonde Cullen girl is with that other Cullen guy (oh my God, that's freaky. They're like, related.) they are so going to like me better. It's just a matter of time.

My mouth dropped open involuntarily as I heard Lauren's thoughts. She had completely glossed over the incident with me as psychosis on my part! If I hadn't heard it from her own head, I would never have believed it. I just served to reinforce my belief in the utter stupidity of humans.

***

The bell rang and I gladly left the boy's changing rooms. I had arranged to meet Alice after we had both got dressed and so I lounged against the wall next to the door that led to the girl's locker room, doing an excellent impression of a bored teenage boy (even though I do say so myself). Alice took almost as long to change back into an outfit as she did to choose it in the morning. I should know; I had had over fifty years of waiting for her.

'I'm here! Let's go to lunch!' said Alice as she emerged through the door. She pulled up the hood of her jacket as protection against the fine rain and set off towards the cafeteria.

As we walked, I filled her in on what I had heard in Lauren's mind during American History. Alice reacted with far less surprise than I had, I was aggravated to note.

It was a crush, Edward, there's no need to be so annoyed that she doesn't like you anymore. I always knew you secretly liked the attention. She grinned and I narrowed my eyes at my sister in intense frustration. She was such a know-it-all.

***

'I am so bored, I might die,' said Rosalie passionately as we got into the car with Esme. 'If I have to listen to them going on about how the Americans saved everyone's skins in both World Wars one more time, I'm going to go on a killing spree, just to impede my boredom.'

Esme inhaled sharply and turned to stare daggers at her adopted daughter. 'Do not even joke about things like that, Rosalie Lillian Hale,' she scolded.

I chuckled. 'If it's death you're looking for, I'm sure I can help you,' I told Rosalie, smirking at her. She reached over and punched me in the arm, a little harder than was strictly necessary.

'Edward!' Esme admonished. 'Don't antagonise Rosalie.'

We all need to go hunting. Everyone is getting tetchy and irritable again.

'Charming,' I muttered, letting Esme know that I had been eavesdropping. She found us difficult to deal with when we started to rebel, however slightly, against Carlisle's chosen lifestyle. We didn't really begrudge it, except perhaps Jasper, but there were times when going through high school for what felt like the hundredth time made the lives of 'real' vampires look appealing.

How did it go? asked Carlisle as soon as he heard the six of us approaching the house. I sighed lengthily and made my way to his study to fill him in on the less than scintillating events of the day.