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This chapter is a little short...but here it goes :)

Chapter 9

Bradley was relieved when the bell signifying the end of lunch came.

"Where are you headed?" snow ball boy, whose name, Bradley learned, was Mike, asked.

Bradley looked at her schedule. "Math," she replied.

Mike looked vaguely disappointed when the boy who asked about her type, Connor, excitedly said, "I have math too!"

Bradley smiled and tried to hide her amusement at the overly eager boy. These people sure are friendly, Bradley thought to herself. Or they really don't get much excitement.

Or they are hitting on the new girl, Edward added.

Shut up, Bradley grumbled back.

"Um, are you ok?" Connor looked concerned. Bradley couldn't figure out where this was coming from until she realized that she had been frowning at Edward's comment.

"Fine. It's just been a long day," Bradley smiled.

You are going to have to get better at mental conversations, Edward told her.

Or you could just stay out of my head, Bradley suggested, trying to keep her friendly smile in place. When Connor gave her a confused look she knew she had failed. Edward laughed in her head.

Bradley sighed and stepped back into the cold to walk to the math building. Connor offered up his jacket about 7 times in the less than one minute walk but Bradley refused. She was pretty sure Edward was only teasing but she wasn't taking any chances. She did not come to Forks for that kind of distraction. And, besides, what she had been trying to distract herself from was actually here!

"Here we are," Connor announced and proudly ushered Bradley into the classroom. The teacher at the front glanced up when they stopped in front of his desk. "Hi, Connor," he said sounding a little bored. Finally, he noticed Bradley.

"Mr. Varner, this is Bradley. She's starting today," Connor explained.

Mr. Varner just looked confused. "I don't think we've got a new student in this class," he said as he started fumbling around his messy desk for a notice or something that he may have misplaced.

Bradley and Connor both frowned. Bradley had really hoped she'd had her share of bad luck for one day.

"Can I see your schedule?" Mr. Varner asked.

Bradley handed him the schedule and noticed that, once again, everyone was staring at her. She sighed and waited for the confusion to get worked out.

"Oh, I see. Bradley, you have Calculus. This is a Trig class," Mr. Varner announced. "Connor, show Bradley to Ms. Launer's room, please."

As soon as they were back in the hall Connor turned on Bradley. "I thought you were a junior," he accused.

Bradley didn't really understand the hostility. "I am," she shot back trying to keep her annoyance to a minimum.

"Calculus is a senior level math class."

"I'm good at math," she said as if the answer were obvious. She wasn't the only junior in her old school that was taking senior Calculus. Besides, she was good at math and didn't think she should feel bad about that. Her mother was a math teacher and her father was an accountant. It was in her blood.

Connor sighed and pointed to the door they had just reached. "Here's your room," he sounded sad. "I can meet you after class to show you where to go next," he perked up as this thought came to him.

"Great," Bradley did her best not to sound sarcastic. Mood swing much? she thought as she opened the door to the new class.

She walked over to the teacher and was glad that this one seemed to expect her. "Sorry," Bradley apologized for being late. "I was led astray."

The teacher raised an eyebrow at her and motioned to a seat for her to take. Bradley turned to walk down the narrow aisle fully aware that every pair of eyes was on her. As she neared the back of the row she looked up to see the empty seat was behind a grinning giant.

Bradley felt relief wash over her as she took her seat behind Emmett. Even though Bradley didn't mind meeting new people, it was still a relief to know someone. Bradley settled into her seat and took out a piece of paper from her backpack. The lecture had started and Bradley was happy to see that this class was pretty much in the same place as her old class so she wouldn't be playing catch-up.

Ms. Launer let her students start on their homework for the last 15 minutes of class. "Emmett, share your book with Bradley," she said after she had written the assignment on the board. "Bradley, I'll have a book for you tomorrow. I have to dig one out of the book room."

"No problem." Bradley was actually glad not to have the bulky math book added to her backpack which was still holding all of her carry on items from her disastrous flight.

Emmett sighed and made a show of being very put out by having to share with the new girl. She kicked his shin and only hurt herself in the process. "Ow," she frowned.

"That's what you get for being violent," Emmett retorted and laughed quietly. "I can't believe you're here! I didn't think we'd ever see you again."

"I know! I'm so happy you guys live here!" Bradley had to work to keep her voice down and contain her excitement.

Emmett's face suddenly clouded over as he remembered something. "Teddy bear?" he grumbled.

Bradley snickered. "What?" she asked innocently.

"I have a reputation here. I'm scary. It works for me. Could you please try not to take down all of my hard work in one day?"

Bradley laughed again. "I'll try."

When the bell rang they cleaned up their stuff and headed out the door. Connor was there waiting for Bradley. Emmett frowned down at him and Connor shuffled his feet nervously. "Uh, hey, Brad. Where are you headed to next?"

Bradley checked the schedule. "Spanish," she said. "Spanish 4," she added to avoid any further confusion.

Emmett grinned which made Connor go a little pale. "That's where I'm headed too. Let's go." Emmett lightly grabbed Bradley by the elbow and led her down the hall, leaving Connor staring.

"Um, Em, you can let go now," Bradley said once they were outside. "What was that all about?"

"Edward let us know what they were all thinking. I don't like that kid. And what's with him calling you 'Brad' anyway?" he demanded.

"You call me 'Brad'. Most people call me 'Brad' actually," she reminded him.

"He doesn't even know you. It's way too familiar," Emmett grumbled.

Bradley just lifted an eyebrow at him and let it go. He continued to seethe all the way to Spanish class where they met Edward at the door. Nice! she thought. You're in this class too?

Edward simply smiled weakly at her.

"How was it?" Emmett asked.

Edward just shook his head. Bradley tried to figure out what was going on but Edward wasn't letting her in his head.

"Well, no one died, right?" Emmett shrugged.

Edward just rolled his eyes and led the way into the classroom. Once again Bradley took the only empty seat which was behind Emmett. She was concerned about Edward. He was intentionally not sharing his thoughts with her which probably meant he was focusing his efforts elsewhere. He couldn't stop her from feeling his stress though. It throbbed in her head.

Bradley was fairly certain that Edward and Emmett were having a conversation of sorts. She knew Emmett couldn't hear Edward so the conversation had to be pretty one sided. Suddenly Edward jumped out of his seat and excused himself from the class. Bradley's eyes widened and her concern deepened.

The teacher sent Emmett out to check on his brother. When he returned alone five minutes later he made some excuse about Edward not feeling well. Bradley was pretty sure vampires didn't get sick.

Edward? she thought. Are you ok?

Fine, Edward snapped. She got nothing else from him and she knew the conversation was over.