A/N: Your PMs and reviews were so amazing that I stayed up way too late last night to finish this :)

Thanks so much for following and reading and reviewing! It means so much to me that you all are enjoying my little story.

In this chapter: more of the Jess we all love to hate, vampire Bella and a wee bit o' trouble for Miss Swan... please let me know what you think!

. . . . .

That night, I dreamed of him again. Only this time, the rest of the Cullens were there. Alice, Jasper, Emmett, even Rosalie, Dr. Cullen and a faceless Mrs. Cullen. I was with them, running. Laughing. Holding hands with Edward as we leaped impossibly far distances and ran for what seemed like forever through the endless Northwestern forests.

His hand was no longer cold; and for a reason I couldn't ascertain, I no longer felt like myself.

I wasn't stumbling, I didn't fall. Not once did my dream-self hesitate. I was lithe, agile and coordinated. I was finally beautiful.

Edward pulled me gently to the left and faster than I could blink, we'd scaled a towering tree. Cradled by the long branches, we hid just out of sight of his family as they played a speeded-up version of tag below. Edward's hands brushed over my shoulders, down my arms, around my waist. His smooth jaw, full lips closed in on me and I felt the perfection of his kiss down to my toes.

My hands knotted in his hair and his kisses trailed down my neck. I giggled and pulled free of him. Teasing, I climbed higher and he followed, laughing and pretending to not be able to reach me. His eyes shone with an intense love that made my heart hurt in the best of ways.

As we climbed higher, the sun glanced off of my arm and a rainbow of dancing light exploded into my field of vision. I paused and stared at the patch of glittering flesh. I was rapt with a beautiful confusion, and my pause gave Edward a chance to catch me off-guard. He brought his fearless feet toe-to-toe with mine on the thin branch and leaned his head down to kiss me. The shaft of light spilled over his face, and I was spellbound by the same magical glitter of microscopic diamonds across his cheek.

His crooked smile grew and he kissed me open-eyed, his soft amber eyes meeting mine as I watched the kaleidoscope of color shift across his flawless face.

I woke to find the sun streaming in my window. My heart thudded in my chest as if I had really been running, and my lips ached for Edward's. A freedom and lightness that I couldn't explain filled my soul.

It was all so beautiful that I had to close my eyes and try to summon the image one more time.

. . . . .

The history presentations entered day three. I was too busy trying to stare at Edward without obviously staring to hear any of Eric's speech on whatever it was that he was talking about. I was sure I'd regret my inattention when we were quizzed over the information from the presentations, but the maze of Edward's hair was so fascinating that I couldn't bring myself to care in the moment.

Just as I was worried that someone would see me, Edward turned his head too quickly for me to look away. Instead, I was caught blushing as he flashed his brilliant smile at me. He slowly closed his left eye and opened it again in a painfully sexy wink before looking back to the front of the room.

Jessica squeaked next to me, and I felt my entire body go red.

She maniacally slapped my arm from across the aisle, and I took a deep breath before turning to look at her in an attempt to keep myself from going into cardiac arrest. I was worried she was going to make a big scene about Edward winking at me. But my worry was misplaced. Of course.

"Ohmygod! Edward Cullen just totally winked at me!"

Her high-pitched whisper carried embarrassingly well, and several other kids turned took at us. I just stared at her with my mouth half-open. I didn't know how to respond. Was she serious?

"Did you see him? Ohmygod-ohmygod-ohmygod!"

Her feet pounded the floor in a spastic running motion. I looked away, embarrassed for her. Embarrassed for me. I caught Edward's profile in the corner of my vision. It looked like he was laughing; his shoulders were shaking slightly and his head was in between his hands. I willed myself to disappear.

Jessica smacked me again.

"Bella! Didn't you hear me? What do you think that means? Do you think he's finally going to ask me to prom? Ohmygod. I cannot believe is happening to me. I mean, I totally knew it was going to happen, I just didn't expect it to happen so soon… I totally have to go dress shopping. Are you—"

Mr. Randall turned from his perch on the counter on the other side of the room.

"Jessica. Are you having some kind of problem?"

She hiccupped and stopped mid-sentence. "No, of course not. Bella was just asking me a question about Eric's presentation."

I put my forehead down on my desk and sighed. Mr. Randall cleared his throat and told Eric to go ahead. I stayed motionless until the bell rang, hoping Jessica would forget I was there. The one-sided conversation she'd started was not one I wanted to listen to her continue.

As I was stuffing my notes into my book, Mr. Randall called out to me. "Bella, will you and Edward please stay for a moment after class?"

I tentatively looked to where Edward had been sitting, only to find him already headed in my direction. He smiled at me and changed directions, turning neatly on his heel without breaking eye contact. I couldn't help but grin at his antics.

I met him at the desk, half-expecting Mr. Randall was going to ask me why I'd been staring at Edward all class. It was shaping up to be that kind of day.

What he actually said was somehow worse.

"Bella, as you know, I'd rearranged the presentation schedule due to your little accident the other day. Jamie volunteered to present instead of you, so you'll be filling her intended spot next Tuesday."

I nodded. That made sense, and I was grateful for the extra time to make sure I'd worked out the kinks that Edward's mysterious appearance had thrown into my presentation.

"However, if you don't mind, I'm going to make one small request," Mr. Randall continued. "Edward here wasn't given this assignment since he joined our class so late in the semester. It didn't seem fair to assign him such a large paper and presentation with such little notice. Nevertheless, I'd like to give him a chance to practice his public speaking skills. I'm hoping that maybe you can help us out."

"Me?" I looked to Edward. If he had any answers, he certainly wasn't sharing them with me.

"Yes. I'd like to have him team up with you to present the report on the Spanish Influenza. Now, I'm not expecting you to have done all of the work. I'd like you to share with him what you've learned during your research and give him a chance to put together a small addition to your presentation. You can team up and put in a few items for him to share, or he can add a small section within or after your presentation."

I fumbled for a response, acutely aware that I probably looked like a fish gasping for air.

Mr. Randall smiled as if he took my non-response as an affirmative. "I knew you'd be able to help out, Bella. You have the highest grade in the class, and this seems like the fairest way to even the playing field. After all, you did have an extra week to plan your presentation."

I nodded dumbly, unable to look at my new presentation partner.

"Ok, that's all. Thank you both. I'm sure you'll be able to work something out in no time."

Mr. Randall closed his book and motioned toward the door. I stumbled out without speaking to Edward. Was it too much to ask to be transported back to my dream world where I glittered and ran and climbed and kissed Edward, and where there were no history reports to get in the way of my happiness?

I headed to the bathroom instead of my locker. Choosing the large stall at the end, I pressed my head against the cool tile wall and took a few deep breaths.

Could this day get any worse?

. . . . .

Now I was more nervous than ever about my report. I had a plan before. I had taken out the slides of Edward's and Dr. Cullen's lookalikes and replaced them with a few photos from hospitals not anywhere close to the one in which Edward's doppelganger was photographed. I was even ready to present my story. I was just going to read it as I'd written it, show my PowerPoint and sit down. I wasn't going to make eye contact with Edward, I wasn't going to accuse him of anything. I was going to ignore my suspicions, get my presentation over with, pack up the photo and name list, put it at the bottom of my stack of journals in my locked trunk and never think about it again.

I was going back to living my life the way I had before I'd fallen in love with a dead guy. I was maybe even going to make a play for the real, live guy that had started to steal my affections away from said dead guy.

But now, thanks to Mr. Randall's overactive sense of fairness, I had to share my presentation with that real, live guy. And somehow that made me nervous that he was going to see right through me and discover my suspicions, no matter how cautious I was.

I stalked into the library and spotted an empty table. Sitting down at the end spot, I lay down my American History folder and put my head in my hands. I needed a breather before digging through my presentation notes and looking for places where Edward could fill in some gaps.

"Can I sit here?" Jessica interrupted my reverie.

"Sure. I'm just thinking about my history report." I closed my eyes again and heard her open a book.

But then my bad luck kicked in and she started chatting in a low whisper.

"Can you believe that Edward Cullen winked at me in class? I mean, there I was, just sitting and listening to Eric's presentation, and I look over and he's looking at me." She clapped her hands together and managed to squeal a high-pitched trill that didn't quite break the 'quiet in the library' rule. "And then he does this sexy wink—oh, Bella! You should have seen it! I thought I was going to explode right there. I mean, he is the hottest guy in school. Don't you think?"

I forced a smile. "Sure, Jess. Listen, I have a lot of work to do…"

"Oh, Bella! This is why you don't have a boyfriend. You are way too into school. You need to relax and live a little." She flipped her hair from one shoulder to the other and examined her nails before starting in on me again. "You could be almost pretty if you'd put some effort into it, you know."

I stared at her for a few seconds, but the eye contact seemed to egg her on.

"If you ever hope to get any boyfriend at all—especially one that's half as hot as Edward—you're going to have to realize that guys like girls who have more to offer than just book smarts. Look at me, for example. I get good grades, sure, but I don't really advertise that. I'm on the cheer squad, and I show up to things. Like, parties. And I put some effort into how I look. I mean, my natural beauty helps, but you have to—"

"Jess!" I couldn't take it anymore. "I know. You're awesome and I'm way behind you in the social scene. But I really have to do some homework right about now."

I took a deep breath and stared at my open folder. I heard her huff and mutter something under her breath, but she stayed quiet.

Ten minutes had passed, maybe more. Then, of course, Mike and Tyler burst through the library doors, giggling like a couple of girls.

"Hey, guys, over here!" Jessica whisper-shouted at them, and I peeked through my hands as Mike ran at Jessica, grabbing her shoulders with both hands. "Hey, beautiful!"

She squealed and I dug my fists into my eye sockets. Sometimes I wished the world would just disappear.

"Heads up, Mikey!" I opened my eyes just in time to see Tyler pitch a football toward Mike. It glanced off of his fingertips and—of course—flew toward my face. I ducked to miss it. Mike let go of Jessica, grabbed the ball off of the floor and vaulted over the table. He chased a cackling Tyler out the library door.

In the commotion, my white American History binder tipped off of the table, sending the contents spilling across the floor.

All I could see was the folder with my Spanish Flu research sliding in slow motion from the back pocket of the binder, across the library floor's thin industrial carpeting, the papers inside shifting left and right and all over the place.

The one of the photograph printouts flew out the farthest, finally stopping just in front of the bookshelf next to Jessica's chair.

I shot from my seat with uncharacteristic grace, falling to my knees and skidding to a stop with the printout in reach. I saw in slow-motion my hand reach out for it, fingers wide, attempting to smash my palm down on top of the photograph before Jessica could see it.

But when my hand hit the ground, all I felt was the rough carpeting.

I looked up in terror. Jessica was still seated in her chair, mere inches from where I was kneeling at her feet. She held the slightly worn piece of paper in her hands.

I couldn't breathe. I said a silent prayer that the paper would magically disappear into a puff of white smoke. That the lights would go out. That the fire alarm would ring. That a hot guy would walk into the library and distract her from the evidence of whatever was going on.

None of the above happened. Instead, Jessica looked over the top of the photograph at me, her left eyebrow raised so high it was practically indistinguishable from her hairline. My stomach pitched down through the floor.

"What is this?" She glanced back to the photograph. "Is this Edw—"

"It's for our history presentation."

Jessica and I both snapped our heads up at the sound of Edward's rich voice, our mouths agape for totally different reasons.

He put his hand out to me and I took it unconsciously. He helped me to my feet and stared into my eyes for a split second too long while he continued his explanation.

"Mr. Randall paired us up for the presentation since I hadn't yet enrolled in school when he assigned the report." He turned away from me and to Jessica, who was looking up at him through her wildly batting, overly-mascaraed lashes.

"Oh. I mean, it's cool. A little weird, but… cool." She let out a breathy giggle and flipped her hair behind her shoulder.

"It was Bella's idea," he smiled at me, but it was a smile I hadn't seen before. One that made my stomach knot up. "See? My dad is even playing the doctor. Bella thought a visual representation might be an effective way to show the impact of our topic—the Spanish Influenza epidemic of the early 1900s."

"Yeah, that's totally a great idea. Visual impact," Jessica fawned. "I mean, you're way too hot to die from something so gross."

Edward stared at her. He arched his eyebrows and held out his hand for the photo. "Well, then, you're in for a treat Tuesday morning when we give the presentation."

Jessica held out the photo with a high-pitched giggle, and she leaned forward to give Edward a peek down her V-neck tee. "I can't wait to see it."

Edward pulled the printout from her hand and turned to me, suddenly. "Shall we go? We have some things to discuss."

His voice was even and his face hadn't changed, but his eyes were cold. Goosebumps rose up on the back of my neck and I had to break his gaze or I thought I'd throw up.

I took a breath for the first time since he'd arrived on the scene, picked up the rest of the spilled papers and my backpack, and followed him dutifully out of the library.

He continued past my locker, down the stairwell and out the front doors. The photograph printout was still wrinkled in his fist. I followed him, terrified and clutching my folder for dear life.

I was caught.

I just wasn't sure at what.

He marched across the ball field and to the small clearing where I'd fled on his first day of school. I followed him, three steps behind, and stood watching him as he put his arm up to lean on a moss-covered tree. The hand with the photograph hung stiffly at his side.

He didn't turn to look at me. I stared at my shoes, unsure of what to say. I knew there was no way I could think fast enough to mitigate the damage.

"I think you have some explaining to do, Bella Swan." His voice was deadpan.

Heat rose to my face. "Me?!" I sputtered. I was suddenly very, very angry. "I have some explaining to do?"

I shook the black folder at his stone-still back. "If anyone has any explaining to do, it's you."

He wheeled around so fast I didn't see him turn. And in a split second he was upon me.

. . . . .