This chapter is late in coming. My apologies for that.

Chapter 20

Previously: It was as we were packing up to leave that Jasper's words echoed in my head. His suggestion that I should stay here in the isolation that Denali provided had me thinking. In the little time that I had been here, I had relaxed enough to let my guard down, if only infinitesimally. What would more time do for me? Would I become a well-adjusted vampire, able to control my instincts? If this were the case, then how long would it take?

I glanced over at Edward, noting the smile that graced his face when our eyes met. Could I stand to be away from him? I knew the answer—no. As much as I hated knowing that I needed him, I was also comforted by it in a strange way.

For now, I would return with Edward to Forks to see where things took us from here, knowing that Denali would be a welcome escape if I ever needed one.

Monday morning began like any other typical morning in Forks. The sun was securely hidden by a dense blanket of clouds and the moisture in the air was so thick, you could almost taste it.

The rain drew out the smell that I tried so hard to ignore—the blood. So, in the same way that Forks was a haven, it was also hell. To make matters worse, I was about to walk into what could be considered the most tempting place in all of Forks.

My weekend in Denali had taught me quite a bit. I had learned to take down some of my walls, but today I had to rebuild them all in a very short period of time.

The drive to Forks High was a tense one. I could feel the tension in the car coming from everyone. I surmised that they were probably worried about how I would react to being around humans again. Not a single spoken word was uttered, but I couldn't help but notice the silent conversation between Alice and Edward. Jasper was as rigid as a board. I felt horrible.

I didn't want everyone to worry over me like this. I was a big girl, and I could deal with my own problems. Though, I could understand how my problems could concern the entire student body of Forks High, should things go wrong.

I took a deep breath before opening the car door and stepping out into the busy parking lot. Students were hurrying to their classes, unaware of the car full of vampires amidst them.

I reached toward Edward, holding out my hand for him to take. I needed his warmth to soothe me right now. I needed his scent to drown out the smell of the blood around me. With a stony expression, he took my hand in his. I could see the tick of his jaw. He was more tense than I was.

I glanced back to Jasper and Alice behind us, looking for some sort of explanation. Alice's eyes seemed glazed over, as if she were in the midst of a vision, but yet, different. Jasper tried to toss a pained smile my way.

Finally, unable to take the odd looks and awkward silence any longer, I asked the question that was plaguing my mind.

"Am I going to slip up today or something?" I looked around at all of them, but not one met my eyes. "If that's the case, then why don't I just go back home."

"No," Edward responded, his voice sounding almost irate. "No. Alice had a vision on the car ride that just has Jasper and I a little riled up. It has nothing to do with your self control." Edward seemed to relax minutely as he answered me.

"Edward. Can you tell me what's going on? I know you said that secrets are necessary, but you're killing me here."

Edward smiled a tense smile, and shook his head as we walked into the high school. "It's probably nothing. Sometimes Alice's visions are sometimes … off. I don't want to concern you with something needlessly."

"There you go, always trying to protect me." I smiled, reaching up on my tip toes to kiss him. At the last moment, he turned his head to the side, my lips just barely grazed his cheek. He released my hand and walked with a purpose down the hallway.

I felt hurt, but more than that, I was fearful. What had happened over the past few days? Had something clicked in Edward's head to make him no longer care for me? Why wouldn't he let me in when I could plainly see he was hurting?

Heads turned toward me as I hurried through the hallways after Edward. Whispered conversations bloomed like weeds in my mind.

'Oops. Looks like Cullen has moved on.'

'New girl just got dumped.'

'Edward Cullen just went back on the market.'

Their scathing comments rose in chorus with cell phones texting. I wanted to yell at them—to deny their claims—but the truth was that I couldn't.

"Edward," I called after him multiple times, only bringing more attention to my pathetic state. He never turned around, never registered hearing my voice.

Still, he was heading in the direction of our first class, so he couldn't escape me. We shared all of our classes now. He had to talk to me at some point.

I took a deep breath, forming my resolve in my mind. Big mistake. With that one deep breath, the smell overwhelmed me. The scent so potent, so strong, flooded my nostrils. My vision zoomed to their pulse points, watching the delicate veins pump the elixir through their bodies.

"Abbey? Are you okay?" It was a voice I recognized, but for the life of me I couldn't place it. Hands grabbed my forearms, pulling me away. I struggled against them, but they were strong—stronger than I was.

My vision cleared to find a group of girls standing mere inches in front of me, staring at me with fear and surprise in their eyes. My teeth were bared, panting breaths making my chest rise and fall rapidly while venom pulled in my mouth, scorching my throat.

I whipped my head around to find Emmett. He had a sad expression on his face. Maybe I wasn't strong enough to do this. Is this what Alice saw? Me nearly attacking two girls in the hallway? Had Edward knowingly lied to me?

No. It couldn't be. I trusted him. He wouldn't betray that. I felt my shoulders slump with the knowledge of what might have been, of what I might have done.

Putting a secure hand around my waist, Emmett led me to my first class. The bell rang, freeing the halls of all the blood bags as we made our way through the door that would lead me to Edward.

Before I could apologize or thank him, Emmett was gone. I was standing in the doorway, with twenty three pairs of eyes trained solely on me. I quickly made my way to my normal seat, right next to Edward. He stiffened as I sat down. I tossed him a confused look, seeking some type of explanation, but his eyes were trained on the front of the class.

"Glad you could join us, Miss Winters." Mr. George addressed me before returning his attention to the rest of the class.

That's when it happened—when she walked through the door. It was oddly like dejah vu, like watching yourself through another's eyes.

She appeared in the doorway, a mixture of fear and anxiety written on her face. Her long, nearly black hair fell in soft waves down her back. Her face was almost the same pale shade of alabaster as a vampire's skin. Her eyes, the same shade of brown that mine had once been.

Then, she looked right at the three of us, took in a ragged breath, and fiddled with a charm that hung around her neck. Dropping her gaze, she approached the teacher's desk. The moment she crossed the threshold, Edward noticeably stiffened, gripping the edge of his desk so tightly I heard the particle board crack under the pressure. For the second time today, I reached out to him and he denied me. The pain I felt at the rejection only magnified the second time around.

"What's wrong?" I whispered under my breath at a level that only vampires could hear. He didn't respond to me in the slightest. He ignored my presence so entirely it was as if I wasn't even there.

The girl walked up to Mr. George's desk and handed him her schedule to sign.

"And your name is?"

"Brianna," the girl answered in a soft, whispering voice. Edward growled under his breath, shaking his head back and forth. Was she what this was all about? Did he know her? His eyes had surely been locked on her since she entered the class, but then again, so had everyone else's. Did she have something to do with Alice's vision?

There were so many unanswered questions swimming around in my head. Somehow, I knew that this girl, Brianna, was the key to the answers I needed.

I spent the rest of my Government class studying her, ignoring Edward as fully as he ignored me. She was most definitely human, that was for certain, but there was something else about her that I couldn't put my finger on. Her scent had a certain flavor to it. It wasn't unpleasant, but it struck a chord with me as different—otherworldly. Not surprising, as there was so much about this girl that seemed different.

She was undeniably beautiful, even by vampire standards. While slight in frame, I still had the sense she was very strong—deceptively so. Her mannerisms were not typical of the other teens in the class. She carried herself with an air of dignity and grace while also coming across as shy and demure. Just as I studied her, so did the rest of the class. The males would make lewd comments, and the females scathing ones—entirely unfair and alarmingly familiar.

She seemed uncomfortable being the subject of such attention, carefully avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. Still, she seemed keenly aware of their attention, even though conversations were hushed, and glances hidden.

While the teacher wasn't looking, I'd take a moment to steal a glance back to Alice, who sat two seats behind me. She seemed to avoid eye contact with me at all costs. The expression on her face was both vacant and broken.

I tried to make sense of the details—to make them fit together—of the girl, Edward, and Alice, but couldn't make sense of anything. I did't remember them ever mentioning a connection to a human girl. Besides, the girl appeared to be a newcomer. New in class, and possibly new to the area.

Was I witnessing the reaction that Alice and Edward had toward me when I arrived to Forks? Was I only too blind, then, to see beyond my own insecurities? It was a possibility, but a slim one. After all, she was human, and I am a vampire. I posed more threat to them, and in their eyes, to the safety of the people in Forks.

A moment before the bell sounded, Edward was up and out of his seat, making a bee-line for the door. I turned back to Alice to find that she was already out of her seat, too, making a wide arch around me toward the exit. Brianna noticed their hurried exit, and looked up to find me staring back at her.

She reached down to grab her things as I shot out of my seat. I wasn't letting her get away. I had to know what it was about her that had the others so riled up. It didn't get the feeling that they were going to tell me anything, so she looked like my best option right now. Brianna was important, I just didn't know why.

She seemed to notice me making my way over to her and started stuffing things half-hazardly into her backpack and hastily zipped it closed.

"Um … hi. Brianna? I just thought I'd welcome you to Forks. I know what it's like to be the new girl. In fact, I was in your shoes only a few weeks ago. " I tried to seem as cheery as possible while I waited expectantly for her reaction.

She eyed me for what seemed like a century. It was the type of look that made me feel vulnerable, like she saw through all my pretenses. I was still new at this—at the lying and false appearances—so maybe it was easy to see right through me.

I found myself taking a half step back from her. By this time, the whole room had cleared, leaving only the two of us and Mr. George. He idly sorted books on his desk into neat little piles, clearly waiting for us to leave. I'm sure if we didn't make our way toward the exit soon, he'd pipe up and suggest we do just that. I felt the need to say something, to break her concentration—to divert her attention away from her intense scrutiny of my face.

I opened my mouth, hoping something clever would come to me, but without a word or gesture, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and turned to leave.

If I hadn't already been perturbed by her strange behavior, I was now. I stalked after her, determined to get something out of her. Something that would let me know what was going on in that head of hers.

That's the point where it dawned on me. The girl, what if Edward saw something in her mind? Something that Alice had warned him about?

I stopped my progress a foot away from Brianna, suddenly fearful.

Without turning to address me, she whispered, "I know what you are." Then, as if no damning words had been uttered, she continued down the hallway, disappearing into the sea of people and leaving me in stunned silence.

AdVocating "And Yet Dusk Fades" by AndYetDuskFades. Leah/Demetri