Bella kept up a casual conversation about homework all the way to the car. Though the topic was light, her actions betrayed her nervousness - she fiddled with the hem of her sweater, couldn't meet my eyes, and once or twice went to bite her lip before stopping herself and blushing.

When we reached my car I unlocked and opened the passenger side door for her. But she hesitated outside, her hand on the door, holding her breath.

"What are you afraid of?"

Though my voice was quiet, she jumped a little. "Nothing." She still didn't get in the car.

I searched her face for the answers she seemed unwilling to give me. "Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?"

"Both?" Her voice squeaked a little.

"You'll be safe with me, I promise."

"You're not who I'm afraid of." It was muttered under her breath, but she had to know I could still hear her. I opened my mouth to ask who, then, but she sighed out the breath she'd been holding and finally climbed into the car.

By the time I slid behind the wheel Bella was buckled, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. She glanced my way, looking like she was trying to smile. "At least I have something to tell Jessica now."

"That's why we were talking about homework?" Bella nodded, and I chuckled, surprised. "Clever."

"Thank you." She sounded almost smug, but her hands were trembling in her lap, her nervousness etched in every line of her body.

I backed out of my parking space, wondering how best to start this conversation when she looked so worried. But before I could come up with something she spoke again. "Hey."

"What is it?"

"You never answered one of my questions." Her words spilled out in a rush, tumbling over themselves.

"Which one?" Hadn't I told her everything?

"You told me why you came looking for me, but not how you found me."

I ran through our conversation in my head. "I suppose you're right. It was Alice."

Bella sighed. "Of course. But - " She bit her lip for just a moment. "I thought she didn't have a vision of me?"

"She didn't have one of you and Jasper's friends, but she did have one of you." I briefly described the vision, staring out the windshield as I did so. I didn't want her to notice if my face or voice changed when I talked about the man I couldn't help but see as a rival.

She nodded when I finished. "That's more or less what happened." She thought for a moment, then glanced my way. "So you missing Jacob wasn't luck. You knew to avoid him."

"Yes." Jacob. I had a name to the face now. The fact that I was gripping the steering wheel tighter was surely unrelated.

"Can I ask you a favor?" Bella said quietly, interrupting my jealous thoughts.

"Of course."

"Don't do that again." Bella's shoulders hunched. "I have enough people checking up on me already."

Was that what Jacob had been here for? "I can't promise Alice won't have another vision of you - like I said, most of them are unprompted - but I can certainly promise not to ask her to look for you."

"Thanks."

Bella kicked off her shoes, putting her feet up on the seat and wrapping her arms around her legs, making herself into a compact bundle. "I guess it's your turn now."

For a moment, I considered not asking her. She looked miserable. But there was no hope for it; even if I didn't have my family's demands to consider, my own curiosity was burning inside me. I had to ask. I couldn't even think of a way to sugarcoat it.

"What is a shifter?"

Bella had pressed her forehead to her knees, and her voice came out muffled. "You can't guess?"

"I can," I said. "I assume it refers to shapeshifter."

"Yeah," she muttered.

"But that doesn't tell me what you can shift into."

"Animals." Bella sighed. "We shift into animals."

So that was why Peter had said my family's way of life didn't do the shifters any favors. How ironic. "Can you shift into any animal?"

"No. Each of us can only shift into one."

"What can you shift into?"

There was a pause. I glanced at Bella. She quickly looked away from me, resting her chin on her knees. "I'm... I'm a wolf."

I laughed before I could think better of it. Bella glanced at me, her brows furrowed. "What?"

"Sorry," I said with another chuckle, "but you're a werewolf? As your vampire friend, I find that very funny."

Bella scowled, but she looked somehow relieved as well. "I'm not a werewolf. Just a wolf."

"Okay," I said gently. Obviously she wasn't in the mood for teasing. "When did you first discover you could change into a wolf?"

"Um." Bella buried her head in her knees again and mumbled something even my advanced hearing didn't catch.

"What?"

"You have it backwards," she said a little more clearly.

"What do you mean?"

She made a noise halfway between a groan and sigh. "I was born a wolf, not a human. On a reservation in Arizona."

I stared at her for a moment, shocked. "How is that possible?"

She shrugged dejectedly. "How are vampires possible?"

"Hmm. Point taken." I reluctantly looked back at the road, needing to pay at least some attention. I was beginning to regret having this conversation in the car. I wanted to devote all my concentration to pulling these answers out of her. "Then, how did you first change into a human?"

But Bella was quiet. I glanced her way again, to see her looking steadily at me. "You're taking this well."

"Did you expect me not to?" I asked.

"Well. That's what happened last time."

"There was a last time?"

"Never mind." Bella sighed, again. "Usually there's signs. That an animal is a shifter, I mean. So when they're old enough, they get taken away and injected."

"Injected?" I repeated. This story was taking a turn toward horror movie, and the vampires hadn't even shown up yet. "They did that to you?"

Bella shook her head. "I didn't show any signs, so they didn't take me away."

"Then... how did you...?"

"I shifted on my own." Her arms tightened around her legs. "I had been old enough for months. The one other shifter born around the time I was had been taken away. Then, one night, a fight broke out between some of the adult wolves. I got pulled in somehow."

She didn't go on. "What happened?" I prompted gently.

Bella took in a deep breath and let it out. Her feet slid off the seat, her arms dropping to her lap. Her right hand grabbed the hem of her sweater on her left side, and she pulled the sweater up, revealing a six-inch scar in her side.

"Bella - " my voice was hoarse. I didn't know what to say.

"That happened." Bella's voice had changed. She sounded strangely calm. "It shouldn't have. First shift is to a child about ten years old, but I was only five or six. Shifters are born with a power, like vampires, and I should have been able to use mine, but I couldn't - or didn't. I'm lucky there was someone nearby to break up the fight."

That made at least three times now that Bella had faced death - that I knew of. I wondered how many more there could be. "Then they took you away?" My voice was shaking a little now.

"Yeah." Bella's sweater was covering her again, her hands loosely clasped in lap - much more relaxed than she had been when she got in the car. I wondered what the change had been, why she was so calm now. "I was given a name and a room in a big house with other young shifters. But I wasn't like them." One hand slid up, rubbing her arm as her story poured out of her. "For weeks, I couldn't shift on my own; they had to inject me, a lot, to get me to change. I eventually figured it out, but I couldn't hold it for long. Even now I can't. I sleep in wolf form every night, which most shifters my age can hold it for days.

"And it's not just that. After I could hold human form they started trying to teach me to speak, but though I understood them I couldn't say anything. They thought maybe I'd never talk. So they were just always in my mind, trying to understand me... which is why my block is so good.

"My power was unpredictable too. I used to accidentally throw things across the room whenever I was frustrated or scared. Now I have it a little more under control, especially after what happened with the van."

"What did happen with the van?" I asked. I'd always wondered how she got out of that.

"My power - " Bella paused a moment, biting her lip. "I never remember the word they use to describe it. Tele-something."

"Telekinesis?" I offered.

"Yeah, that."

"So... you saw the van sliding toward you, and you..."

Bella shook her head. "I've never used that much at once before. I didn't even think, I just put up my hand. And the next thing I knew, you were catching me as I fell to the ground."

I was thinking back to that day now, and things were clicking into place. "So, when you seemed so tired when I was driving you home, that wasn't shock, that was you reacting to using your power so strongly?"

"Yeah, which is why I told you leave me alone. I just needed to sleep." She flashed me a small smile. "My power is why I hate gym class. I see a ball coming toward me, and my instinct is to use my power to keep from getting attacked, not to play the sport."

I smiled too. "You know, I think I understand that."

She looked surprised. "You do?"

"I assume you know of vampires' strength and speed." She nodded. "It takes a decent amount of concentration for us to move and react at human speeds. We all hate gym too."

Bella was really smiling now, though she looked back down at her hands. "I didn't think we'd have anything in common."

"Aside from both of us being supernatural creatures hiding among unsuspecting humans?"

"Yeah, aside from the obvious. Us both hating the same class... it's so normal."

We both sat in silence for a while. I was still trying to figure out what to say, how to respond to her tale of her upbringing. Despite my current issues with my family, I couldn't help but be grateful for the mostly stable, mostly loving environment I went home to every day.

I finally settled on the simple. "Thank you for sharing your past with me."

Bella's cheeks were reddening. "Thanks for listening."

We were quiet again for a moment, then Bella sighed. "I bet you have more questions."

Only about a million. I started with next-most burning question, now that I knew what she was. "You did promise you'd tell me why you cried in the restaurant."

Bella blushed harder. "I was hoping you'd forgotten."

"I forget nothing," I said in an attempt at lightness, but Bella didn't respond. "Why don't you want to talk about it?"

"Because - because I'm not even sure why I cried," Bella said in a rush. "It just happened. Maybe - " she paused, almost bit her lip, but stopped herself and went on. "I think it might have been Jacob."

"What about him?"

"His hug." Bella leaned back in her seat, staring at the ceiling of the car. "He and his friends tried to make time for me, even though they were older. His hugs used to be so comforting. But tonight, it just wasn't." She sneaked a glance at me. "I didn't know why. But I've been thinking. When you told me about Alice and her vision, that she was excited to meet me and become friends, I realized - I wanted that. I think... I think here, Forks, is starting to feel more like home than Arizona ever did."

She was smiling again. I couldn't help smiling myself. I was happy, happy that Bella liked it here, that she wanted to be friends with Alice. It looked like something I'd despaired of might actually be able to happen - would I be able to introduce Bella to my family? Could we be that close?

We were both quiet again, but for the first time, it was a completely comfortable silence. Bella's heart rate and breathing were both normal (or close enough), her posture was relaxed, her hands loosely clasped.

I wanted to keep talking to her and searched around for an easier topic. I quickly hit on a brilliant idea. "So," I said gently, worried about how she'd respond to this, "you're a wolf."

"Yeah." Bella sounded a little hesitant.

"Might I get to see that sometime?"

Bella stared at me. "You want to see that?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You wouldn't think it's too weird?"

I laughed softly. "It's just you. Why would it be weird?"

She stared at me another long moment. "You're weird," she said with finality, but another smile was tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Is that a yes?"

She finally looked away, staring down at her hands in her life. "I mean, if you really want to, I guess we could..." she shook her head. "But it would have to be far away from everyone. I can't risk anyone else knowing, and I can't risk Charlie seeing you."

"Well," I said, "I understand you're free on Saturday."

"Yeah."

"So why don't the two of us get together? Alice says it's going to be sunny, so we'll have a trade - you show me your wolf form, and I'll show you what a vampire looks like in the sun." I glanced at her. "I assume you've never seen a vampire in the sun?"

"I'd never seen a vampire before your family," Bella said. "I've heard you... sparkle. But that can't be possible."

I laughed. "It's very possible."

"Okay." Bella was smiling too. "But until then, you'll help me with my homework after school?"

"I did say I would."

My love for driving fast was working against me now. We were already back in Forks and approaching her house. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with her, but short of stopping the car - which she'd certainly find strange - there was no help for it. She was eventually going to have to leave me for the night.

I wondered if she felt the same way. I couldn't ask. For now, I'd rather not know if disappointment was a distinct possibility.

I parked in front of Bella's house. She looked up at me. "Thanks for tonight."

I wanted to touch her. I could easily recall how I'd felt when I'd touched her lip the other day, and the warmth she'd shared with me when I touched her hands today. But I kept my hands to myself. "You're welcome."

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Again, as with the first time, her voice sounded unsure, as if it was a question.

I nodded. "And we'll work on your homework."

"Thanks." Bella flashed me a small smile, then unbuckled herself, grabbed her shoes off the floor, and opened her door. She looked back at me before exiting. "Goodnight, Edward."

I loved hearing her say my name. "Goodnight, Bella."