It was just going to cause even more trouble if I did not return to school, so I fed and went back, claiming a vicious case of mono was the cause of my absence and reluctance to speak. Perhaps if I act as a puppet for long enough whatever volition or interiority I have shall eventually disappear and take with it this agony. Wishful thinking I am sure, but it seems like the path of least resistance at present.

Alice filled lunch with her usual blathering. I tried to tune everyone out without much success, trying to focus on the hum of the fluorescents overhead, the squeak of footsteps and chairs dragged against the linoleum and the thrum of the constant rainfall against the roof.

I could sense her, but I did not look her way. I cannot bear to. Her nearness makes my stomach ache and my chest feel leaden. Thoughts of her cause my throat to feel thick, my nose and my eyes prickle in a cruel reminder of the human tears I can never cry.

All of my family tensed up palpably as she walked in to join the food line, waiting to see if I would- what? Leap up and bite her? They really do not understand what I feel for her at all.

I was a little surprised that they tried to control their angry thoughts towards me. Esme must have told them to make peace, because they are clearly holding back still. I have never done much that didn't invoke their ire though. They are certainly not making nice for my benefit, I'm sure they would have sent me to Volterra a million times over by now if it were not more amusing for them to constantly torment me.

My phone kept interrupting me throughout lunch. Jasper asked why I didn't block the number if I wasn't going to answer it. I didn't know you could do that. I left the lunch table and tried to find a quiet spot to sit out the break. There is no point in further aggravating the family. I checked how to block a number after school and have now blocked Lauren and Jessica both. I hope they focus their attentions on someone less poisonous than I in future.

Esme came and stroked my hair again after school. She held me and whispered to me for a while. I was so numb I didn't really register what she said.

A/N: Please leave a review! Have you ever been this sad? I have.

Just a reminder that Edward cannot continue being so atrocious to everyone indefinitely. It is time he ate some humble pie. He will come back to you in his trademark Bonerward/Prudeward style, but he needs to have a difficult adolescence first. Thanks for bearing with him.

I plan on uploading the chapters without comedy in batches so that those who are here for the laughs aren't too alienated by the tonal change and can whizz through them. I sincerely hope you will fall in love with him on the other side of all of this. The only way out is through.

Thanks to the creative, kind and funny wh1teow1 for being the best beta for this story please show some love and read Moirai, a reimagining of Twilight for the new decade!