(I disclaim all Twilight characters, but I may steal one for myself.)

Chapter 10: Break Out

I approached Jessica, and she reached up to place a black beanie on my head. She then opened her back pack and pulled out a black zip up jacket. It was silly, but I obliged her and put it on, taking it from her hands when she tried to slip it on me herself.

I gave her a wistful smile, but she was beaming at me. "There," she said. "Now you look the part. A dashing escapee."

She smirked, and I had to laugh. This was pretty ridiculous, but I might as well let the girl have her fun. I'd already broken her heart once that day, and she'd humiliated herself for me on more than one occasion, and I really wanted out of here.

She reached out for my hand, but I ignored that. I motioned for her to lead the way.

She let a sly smile crease her lips, bent into a slight crouch, and then stealthily made her way to the front door of the office. She peeked her head around the corner into the hall where people were still congregating, and amiss the chatter I heard a few girls shrieking.

I eyed her questioningly, and she motioned for me to look out into the hall.

I would never be able to guess how she did it, but to my great surprise, there had to be at least one hundred frogs hopping aimlessly around the hall ways. I'm sure they were from the science lab, but still, that's a lot of frogs.

I stared out shocked, and watched as people scrambled and scattered around the hallway. Some girls were shrieking, trying to get frogs out of their hair, some people were trying just not to step on them (there were so many,) and some people were trying to help the faculty catch the amphibians.

I saw the principle off to the right, endeavoring to bring order out of the chaos, and failing miserably.

Jessica eyed in the principle's direction for a moment, and when she was sure it was safe, motioned for me to follow her, and headed left out the door.

She held her crouch, and walked as close to the wall as she possibly could. I imagined she was feeling a little maverick, and enjoying this immensely. Her face was intensely focused, and she reminded me of a character out of Alias.

When we turned down another corridor, she erected her position and broke into a full sprint. I followed closely after her, but it wasn't too hard to keep up. I was the fastest in the county after all. I laughed at my sarcastic thought. How ironic.

We finally reached the front of the school and went out the doors.

It was raining outside so we stopped under the ledge, and even under the jacket I felt cold. It was another strange first for me, being affected by the temperature. I huddled into myself, and Jessica noticed. She placed a hand on my back and started rubbing it, trying to warm me with the friction.

My reflexes jerked me away from her, and just like this morning I could easily see the hurt in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Jessica." I said to her, not sure what else I could offer.

She took a deep breath and stared out into the rain.

She finally broke the silence. "This hurts you know, you not loving me back."

I sighed. "I understand more than you know."

She didn't respond for a while, considering that. So we both just stood there, listening to the rain.

Jessica put her hand on my arm, and this time I didn't pull away. "I really would do anything for you, and if what you want is for me to leave you alone, than I will."

I turned and faced her, confused. I'd never, in either universe, seen Jessica like this before. So sincere and concerned.

"Jessica?" She looked at me expectantly. "I know there's someone out there who's crazy about you." He's currently with my girlfriend, but that will all be over soon. "And I know, that you'll get over me, and that he's going to sweep you off your feet the way you deserve. I just can't be that guy."

I could tell she was fighting back tears.

There was one more thing I had to say. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you. You didn't deserve it."

She couldn't fully restrain the threatening tears any longer, and a couple escaped, but she smiled despite.

She came right up to my side, stood up on her tippy toes, and I let her kiss my cheek.

She let her hand linger on my arm one more second as she whispered, "goodbye Edward."

I smiled down at her and she turned back to the door.

"Hey Jess." I called out just as she reached the handle. She turned back to look at me. "Thanks for the break out. It was the most fun I've had all day."

She gave me a warm smile. "Anytime." And than she disappeared back into the school.

I turned back to the rain, and watched it for another moment. I'd needed to make a decision about what I was planning to do next, but there was something about the rain that was inviting to me at present in a way it never had before. I wondered what it would feel like on my human skin.

I found my feet walking forward before I told them to, and then it was open heavens over my head.

I closed my eyes, held out my hands, and turned my face toward the sky letting it drink up the river that fell from the clouds.

This was different than the rain on my cold, stone-like skin. This brought a blissful refreshing, seeming to wipe away the dirt that cluttered my soul. I'd never appreciated the rain before. It had always been a means of survival for me. Where there was rain, there was a place my family could live and be normal. But here, where my skin wasn't in any danger from being exposed to the sun in front of people, the rain was soothing and freeing.

I let it roll off the areas were my skin was exposed, and trickle down my fingers.

My beautiful moment was interrupted by a roaring in my stomach. I looked down and placed my hands over my belly. What was this?

The roaring grew louder, and pains seemed to develop from nowhere. I felt like I had a little vampire kicking around in there.

"Hungry?" came a soft voice behind me.

Startled I spun around, and there under the ledge, was Bella.

"I saw you run out here," she explained.

I quickly took in her expression looking for anger, hurt, frustration, but there were none of the emotions I had seen earlier that day.

Instead, she looked at ease. She gave me a smile and I wondered if she were forcing it.

I didn't answer her, but found myself exuberant at her presence, even after all she'd put me through that day.

No matter what, I could never stop loving Bella. Even in a world where she didn't want me, there was no escaping that.

She took the few steps toward me and into the rain.

I remembered once how the rain had made her smell, but I couldn't find that scent now. Again, with the peace in my lungs, I wanted to reach out and touch her, but after all the times she'd said no to me today, I shied away from the thought.

I allowed myself to take in how beautiful she looked; her hair now soaked from the downpour. She had her hands in her pockets as she approached me, and she didn't flinch as the rain beat on her face.

"I could hear that growl even over the storm," she commented.

I was confused at her nonchalance, but I smiled anyway. "Is that what that was?"

"When was the last time you ate?"

I thought about hunting at first, I couldn't remember. Then I realized she meant human food. "Oh. Breakfast I guess. We can go under the ledge out of the rain if you want," I offered, hoping she wouldn't.

"If you don't mind, it's kind of nice right now. I know I'm normally not a fan, but it was getting a little stuffy and smelly in there."

I laughed. "The frogs?"

"The frogs." She smiled.

Her eyes averted from mine and looked at something on my face. She reached up her hand and lightly touched my cheek.

It was tender, and I automatically shied away, then mentally kicked myself right after.

"Does that hurt?" she asked.

I groaned in response. I must've bruised there, and hadn't noticed it earlier.

"I'm so sorry Edward," she said sincerely, pain evident in her tone. "I had no idea he'd react like that. I just, I'd felt so guilty…"

"I kissed you." I interrupted.

"I know but…" she didn't finish her thought. "It just felt like the right thing to do." She paused for a moment and looked up at the rain, which was now starting to soften.

"We had a fight."

I looked at her concerned. "Are you okay?"

She didn't answer right away.

"I'm fine. I'm mad at him." She paused again and looked up at me with a smirk on her face. "I'm mad at you too you know."

I smirked back. "You're ditching 6th period right now. That's illegal you know. What would chief Swan say?"

"You think he'd put me in cuffs and escort me off campus?"

I laughed, relieved at our easy banter. At least she wasn't avoiding me.

"Maybe," I responded. "I can always bust you out if you want. I had a good lesson on that today."

She stared at me confused, but let it go.

Her expression changed and became more serious. She looked down at her feet. "I don't want to lose you Edward."

"You don't have to." I wanted to reach out to her. The pain was so evident on her face, but I didn't know how she'd respond.

"I was all prepared to give you the cold shoulder, but when Mike hit you," she flinched, "again I'm so sorry…"

"Please stop apologizing for him. Let me deal with that."

She seemed to ignore me and continued. "When he did, I had this weird fear hit me, like I was losing you, and I can't. I need you in my life. I don't know why, but you just have this way of making sense of everything. I'm happiest when I'm with you, and that friendship means more to me than any relationship I've ever had."

Neither of us spoke for long period of time. I was thinking about the word friendship. Of course I wanted more, but that was better than nothing right?

"I told this to Mike," she said. "That was why we fought. He doesn't want me hanging around you any more." I internally growled. "But I told him if he wanted me he'd have to deal with it.

"I understand after everything that's happened, if you don't want me around anymore, and I know this is the most selfish thing to say to you right now, but I just don't think I could survive without you."

She was looking up at me now, her chocolate eyes wide with expectation. How could I ever refuse her anything?

I slowly and carefully raised my hand to her cheek. "I will always be here for you."

She smiled at me, and I let my hand rest on her cheek for as long as she would allow.

And then, without warning, she pulled herself into my chest, and allowed me to wrap my arms around her. I buried my face in her hair, and inconspicuously took in her scent.

She didn't smell the same as she usually did, but it was still intoxicating, and having her in my arms, well wasn't this what I wanted most?

I took it.

I even allowed myself to pull her tighter to me.

"Edward," she warned.

"Don't worry, I'll be good."

So she remained silent, and pulled me tighter too.

I wanted to tell her about the tears, but I knew she wouldn't understand without the background, and that was the last thing I wanted to share with her now.

So I stopped thinking, and just let myself be human, with Bella.

The rain stopped and she finally pulled away. I reluctantly let her go.

She took my hand and pulled me back toward the school.

"Come on," she called. "I think I've got an apple or something in my pack."

It sounded delicious, but I couldn't concentrate on my hungry stomach with her hand in mine.

So I took another deep breath, and followed her back into the school.

(A/N: Not much of a cliff hanger I know, but I thought it was about time that Edward had a happy moment, so that was this chapter's purpose. But don't worry, I've got lots more torture for Edward to endure before this story is resolved, and don't let that word "torture" scare you, because it's probably not the kind of torture you're thinking of. Trust me, his life is about to become incredibly intense.

There, see, apparently I just couldn't leave you without a cliff hanger. Have a wonderful day!

P.S: Special shout out to Zoella De Vil for reviewing every chapter. Thank you for your faithfulness. I appreciate you.

P.P.S: Love me with reviews!)