Chapter Three: Exhaustion

My eyes froze on the bag. I wasn't sure I was ready to behold what I'm sure would be some godlike beauty in the face of my new lab partner. At least bio wasn't until after lunch… that should give me a little time to prepare.

Oh, God. I was going to embarrass the shit out of myself, I could feel it.

I dragged my gaze upward from the bag, to a pair of dark wash jeans, a deep green knit sweater, then a shock of untamed bronze hair… and that was about it. He was sitting forward stiffly. His position—sort of leaning against the metal bar on one side of the desk—seemed uncomfortable and I wondered if maybe he should have taken another few days to recover from the mystery illness that kept him out of school. Was he still contagious? No… Jessica had mentioned that his foster father was a doctor. I couldn't imagine a doctor letting a contagious teen go infect the whole school.

Edward Cullen didn't turn around once during the lesson. In fact, according to the glances I stole in his direction, he didn't seem to move. At all. I wasn't sure he was breathing. But Mr. Jefferson droned on with the lesson, and since he had a view of Edward's face that I didn't, I assumed he must look less distressed than his current posture suggested. I shook my head quickly, trying to rid myself of those thoughts. Maybe this was just how he looked. No one else seemed concerned—maybe I shouldn't be either.

The second the bell rang, and Edward Cullen was instantly out of his seat and stalking into the hallway. That got more of a reaction, at least from Mr. Jefferson, who had been mid-sentence when the bell interrupted and was now gaping at the door. There was another beat of silence, but then everyone just started getting their things together to switch classes without a second glance. I looked around, bewildered. Mike and Tyler were in the back of the room, speaking quietly but gesturing at the seat vacated by Edward Cullen. I sighed and gathered my things. I guess I was going to be able to evaluate Edward Cullen on my own in just a few hours. Maybe I'd even get a peek at his face.

"That's just how Edward is," Jessica said breezily as we made our way through the lunch line. "He's, like, totally got this dark and brooding thing going on."

I frowned at the mass of brown curls as Jessica turned away for a moment to inspect a banana, apparently deciding it was too bruised and putting it back in the basket. "I don't know, Jess. Do you think he'd come to school sick? I really don't want to catch anything." That was true. It wasn't the only reason for my questioning—my own crippling curiosity was certainly also a high motivator.

Jess laughed. "Oh my God, no way. Doctor Cullen is, like…" Her eyes took on that dreamy quality again. "He's the best doctor ever. And he would never do that. Let one of his kids go to school sick, I mean."

"Do you know him well?"

Her face clouded over. "Um. Yeah. He was my dad's doctor when he was sick. He diagnosed him. No one else could figure out what was wrong with him, but Doctor Cullen came to town and just…" She sighed. "He's actually getting better for once, instead of getting worse."

I smiled weakly. So there was another element to her crush on the good doctor. I didn't even know her dad was sick. I am a horrible friend.

"I'm glad he's getting better," I finally whispered as we approached the cashier and swiped our ID cards. She smiled at me—a genuine smile, with the former hint of sadness all but vanished.

"Me too."

I stayed quiet for a while after that. The usual group congregated at the table, chatting amiably. I poked at the half-burnt chicken nuggets on my plate. I wasn't hungry, and even if I was, I wouldn't eat that. The apple and water I'd grabbed were plenty for me.

As soon as I heard Jess's sharp intake of breath, I knew what was happening. He had walked in. The ever-elusive Edward Cullen. "He's even more gorgeous than I remember," she moaned, much to Mike's chagrin from across from her. I took a quiet breath and finally chanced a glance upward.

Holy shit.

There's no way I could be lab partners with that man. And I really meant "man"—Edward Cullen looked much too regal, too confident, too self-assured to be a teenager. His face was even more beautiful than I could have imagined, with sharp cheekbones and deep eyes and a strong, angular jawline. His nearly white skin—so much like the rest of his foster siblings—seemed to be nearly glowing. I kept stealing glances, trailing him as he left the lunch line, looking bored and carrying his tray one-handedly. He was absolutely beautiful to look at.

Mike cleared his throat loudly, and I realized with a start that Jess and I had both been starting in the direction of the Cullen table like lovestruck teenagers. He was scowling, especially when Jess seemed to take a moment longer than me to come back to earth.

"Are you done ogling the Cullens yet?" he asked with an eyeroll. I could tell he meant for the comment to sound teasing, but the hardness in his voice was unmistakable. I blinked. I had no idea that Mike had this much contempt for the Cullens.

I glanced up one more time, resolving this to be my last peek, and my breath caught in my throat.

Edward Cullen was staring back at me.

Or at least I thought he was. Within a second he was back to facing his family, seemingly in conversation with the spiky-haired pixie girl, Alice. I felt my cheeks grow hot again and hoped no one would notice. Of course he wasn't staring at me—and if he was, it was probably totally on accident. After all, it seemed that this school didn't get many new students. To him, who had been out since my arrival, my presence may have been a discernable change. God, Bella, way to be self-centered. I huffed and turned to Angela, deciding to strike up a conversation about her own family.

She smiled fondly as she told me about her father, the town pastor; her mother, one of three teachers at the local preschool; and, with more adoration in her eyes than I had ever seen a sibling possess, told me all about her younger twin brothers, Isaac and Joshua. The conversation was easy, and I, an eternal only child, was fascinated by her stories of sibling antics. I didn't even notice how quickly the time had passed until the warning bell rang.

Oh shit.

The time had come. I was going to have to have a coherent conversation with the single most attractive human being I had ever laid eyes on. I rolled my eyes to myself. Honestly, my experience with guys was so limited that I would probably fuck up even if he wasn't a living Adonis. Even Mike, Tyler, and Eric, all of whom I was coming to consider real friends, didn't hold conversations one-on-one; every time we were together, it was in a group setting.

This is a group setting, my calmer internal voice told me as I sulked to the lab. It's just a class. You won't be alone with him. You're just sharing a microscope and a lab table. And a lab book. And will be sitting in extremely close proximity. My heart clenched once more, and I finally stalked through the door into the lab.

Almost everyone else was in the class already, chatting amongst themselves while Mr. Molina tossed a baseball in the air and caught it, ignoring the students altogether. I cautiously made my way to my lab table and let out a hard breath when I saw it.

Empty.

He wasn't here yet.

Cautiously, I slid onto the left stool. I wasn't sure what seat was "his" since I had never gotten any more instruction than which table to sit at. The clock hands above the whiteboard seemed to be clicking louder than I remembered and I stared at it, irritated. What was wrong with me? I never had mood swings like this, and I sure as hell was never one to be overtaken by how good looking someone was. Until… until now. Until that one glimpse of Edward Cullen's beautiful face in the cafeteria changed things. Until—and this one was probably more on me for taking it so seriously—until Jess told me everything about how cute and smart he was. Of course, after 17 years of laying completely dormant, my teenage hormones had to come roaring out now.

"What are you frowning at?"

The voice was deep, smooth, like honey and warm tea. I froze, my eyes widening, then forced myself to look over at the person in the other stool before he thought I was losing it.

He was even more gorgeous than I realized in the cafeteria, and I wondered if maybe I needed glasses. There was no way I could comprehend the utter perfection of his face until I was this close. From this distance I could see that his eyes were a light, warm gold—maybe something about the lighting in here?—softening the angles of the face and bringing warmth to the paper-white skin. Suddenly realizing my mouth was gaping open as I stared, I snapped it shut, clicking my teeth, and stuttered out the first thing that came to mind.

"It's raining."

Edward, looking confused, glanced out the window at the gloomy sky and then back at me. "You do know where you live, don't you?" he asked quizzically.

"I…" I trailed off, because he was absolutely right. "I just haven't adjusted to it. I'm from Arizona. It's a little bit of a culture shock."

The words were coming out with a surprising amount of ease. He still looked confused, but slowly nodded. We started at each other for a moment before I finally looked away, trying to prevent my cheeks from darkening with yet another blush, to no avail. Edward breathed in sharply and I glanced back at him. He had stiffened, and his breath whooshed out again.

Then he smiled, as if nothing had happened, and offered me his hand. "Edward Cullen."

I took his hand warily, but almost jerked my own back when I felt it. His skin was icy cold to the touch. I pressed my palm into his anyway.

"Bella Swan."

He grinned. It was perfect, revealing a row of straight white teeth and a smidge of lopsidedness to make his unnaturally symmetrical face seem a bit more natural. I relaxed a bit and smiled back. "Pleased to meet you, Bella Swan," he said in a whisper as Mr. Molina called the class to attention, before turning to pay attention.

I'd already done this unit back in Phoenix, so the notes I took during the first few minutes of lecture were sporadic and scribbled at best. Twenty minutes in, Mr. Molina told us to begin the labs, assuring us he would be coming around sporadically to weigh in on any issues we were having.

Edward turned to me. "I'll go get the microscope, you go up and grab the slides?" he suggested. I nodded, heading to the front where people were congregating to grab one of the enveloped of slides left for us. When I returned to the table, Edward was already setting up the microscope.

We worked well together. I was a little surprised, but when we started really going on identifying the stages of cellular reproduction captured in the slides, I found that I was able to push some of those teenage hormones down. Edward and I agreed on every label, and he meticulously noted each stage in the shared lab notebook. I glanced over to check his work and was stunned by his handwriting.

I pointed to it. "You write like that?" I asked, flabbergasted.

He looked down at the notebook, then back up at me and furrowed his brow. "What's wrong with it?"

"It looks like it came out of a Jane Austen novel," I snorted, then covered my mouth and looked up at him, eyes wide. "I have no idea why I just said that," I muttered apologetically.

But Edward was just chuckling. "You aren't the first to point that out to me," he said. "My sister tells me all the time that I'm stuck in the past and need to modernize."

I returned his grin, albeit a little weakly. Leave it to me to put my foot in my mouth so quickly. I spun back to the microscope and hurried myself in placing the next slide, only to have the old one go flying from my grasp (with absolutely no apparent cause) and head to the floor for its untimely demise. A white hand shot out as I dumbly let it fall, snatching it carefully six inches from the ground.

Edward Cullen smiled that stupid bright smile at me when I looked up at him as he offered the slide to me. "Drop this?"

I only groaned, burying my face into my hands with my elbows propped on the lab table. "You'd better do it. I can't be trusted," I said miserably, and I could swear I heard a quiet chuckle from next to me as he complied.

"Are you this clumsy often?" he asked lowly when I raised my face. He wasn't looking at me, instead asking the question while staring down at the notes he was still scribbling.

"Yes," I deadpanned. "Your dad is a doctor, right? You'd better warn him. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I end up needing his services."

He smiled again without looking up. "I'll start thinking about what to ask him for with the bonus he'll receive for your business." I scoffed as his teasing but said nothing—especially because he probably wasn't wrong. Renee always joked that no one hated us more than the insurance company.

The period passed quickly. We managed to get all the slides labeled after a slight spat on whether one in particular was metaphase or late prophase, but he eventually conceded—although he made me write that one in myself. I rolled my eyes and bent over towards him to jot it down. When I did, I heard the slightest intake of breath, making me still slightly—why did I do that?! Why did I lean over to within four inches of his chest to jot down… I concentrated hard on the notebook, writing the answer in with an unsteady hand, trying to ignore the slightly sweet, musky scent of his cologne and the glorious way that the knit sweater stretched over his chest. When I sat back up—maybe a little too quickly to be played off as casual—his eyes seemed just the slightest bit darker.

When the bell rang, Edward stayed only long enough to sweep up his books and wave goodbye before taking off almost as quickly as he'd left Government. I blinked after him, puzzled by the abrupt departure. We'd been chatting pleasantly, having finished the lab a few minutes early, and he took off like a bat out of hell… maybe he had to pee. I shrugged to myself and glanced over only to find Mike scowling down at me from the other side of the table.

"Jeeze, you scared me," I gasped. He just grunted and shoved out his chin.

"Seemed pretty chatty with Cullen."

I shrugged. "Yeah. We're lab partners. You have to talk. That's kind of the whole point." I knew exactly where he was going with this, and frankly it was starting to irritate the hell out of me. Turning him down was certainly playing out to be a more difficult task than I'd thought. I started shoving my books into my bookbag roughly.

"He's kind of a strange guy, Bella. You should stay away from him."

My temper flared. Not only was he refusing to read the signals, he was also going to badmouth Edward to manipulate me? "I have to get to class, Mike," I said through gritted teeth when he sidestepped to block me from exiting down the aisle.

"Mike!" a cheerful voice called from a few tables away.

Thank God for Angela. I seriously needed to bake that girl a cake. Mike glanced over, and I slipped past him quickly, murmuring a bitter goodbye towards him and a much softer one to Angela before joining the hallway traffic and heading to gym.

I caught Angela at her locker after stumbling my way through another PE class. "You are literally a lifesaver," I groaned, leaning my head back against the locker next to her as she put her things away.

She laughed. "He's pretty persistent, isn't he?" She closed her locker and I looked at her. "Bella," she said after a moment, regarding me seriously. "If you need me to tell him to back off, just let me know. You don't have to put yourself through discomfort to spare his feelings."

I sighed and shook my head. "No. I think I need to firmly tell him no and that I'm not interested in him at all and see if that takes. I think dancing around it is just giving him hope."

"Giving who hope?" asked a cheerful voice from behind Ang. I froze as Mike moved into view.

Angela didn't miss a beat. "Isaac," she said sadly. "My mom's trying to tell him that there isn't a fencing studio close enough to Forks for him to take classes."

"Oh. Well, that sucks. Untapped market!" He grinned, then zoomed his gaze in on me. "Hey, Bella, can we talk?"

I glanced at Angela, who was watching me carefully, and nodded slightly. "Sure, Mike," I sighed, trying to keep the frustration out of my voice.

He made to grab my elbow, but I flinched and he pulled his hand back, seeming unphased. Instead he stepped over to the other side of the emptying hallway. I followed on his heels, wildly trying to think of what to say to him.

Mike leaned against the wall, giving me a cocky grin. "Hey. So, remember the other night, at the bonfire?"

Oh, God. I was afraid that would come back to haunt me. Jacob was intimidating, but Mike wasn't the type of guy to give up.

"Uh, yeah. I had a great time, how about you?" I tried to seem chipper, hoping that maybe I could steer this into another conversation about something else. But—damn it, Bella. No. Get to the point.

He nodded but didn't even acknowledge the question I'd asked. "It's just, you never actually answered me when I asked you out." He smiled smoothly, and I wondered where all this confidence had come from. He'd seemed much squeakier on the beach.

I took a deep breath. "I did not, you are correct."

He looked at me expectantly. "And?"

I bit my lip, my brain still running through a list of things I could say. "Mike," I finally sighed, "I just don't really see you that way. I'm only interested in you as a friend." I emphasized the last word. My only group of maybe-friends here had known him for years, and I was hoping beyond hope that this wouldn't cause any kind of issue. I was really starting to like them.

Well, most of them. Lauren Mallory flashed across my mind, but I shook it off.

He seemed totally unphased by my answer. "And that's why we go on a date!" he said cheerily. "To develop the relationship, Bella." It sounded like he was chiding me, which immediately put me on the defensive. I huffed through my nose and narrowed my eyes at him.

"I am not interested," I repeated. How thick could one boy be? "And I'd like for you to stop asking."

Mike grinned cockily. "I can't promise that, Bella."

I gritted my teeth. "Whatever." Then I spun on my heel and marched toward my locker, praying he wouldn't follow me.

He didn't. I was relieved to be alone at my locker—I wasn't sure where Angela went, but I was glad she gave me a moment to try to deal with Mike on my own. I was choosing which books I would need to bring home for the night when a smooth voice spoke from behind me.

"What did Newton want?"

I jumped and spun, losing my balance when I caught my foot in the strap of my bookbag and falling towards the ground—but I never made it. A pair of hard arms caught me around the waist, gingerly lifting me back up and setting me on my feet. I looked up at my savior with a sheepish smile. "Thanks."

Edward removed his arms from my waist slowly, as if he was afraid I would lose my balance again if he moved too fast. "No problem," he said slowly, looking at me expectantly with a raised eyebrow. "Newton?" he finally said after a moment of silence.

"Oh. Right." I grimaced. "He wanted to go on a date."

He nodded thoughtfully. "And you said no." It wasn't a question, and I wondered if he'd watched me stomp off from Mike's pestering. I nodded. "Okay."

And then he was walking away, and I was staring after him, dumbfounded. I wanted to ask what the hell that was—why he'd stopped me to ask, why he spoke to me at all when, according to Jessica, Edward Cullen never spoke to anyone outside of class except his family. But I couldn't get my mouth to agree with all the questions swirling around in my brain, so I settled for watching him round the corner until the distraction of his presence was gone and I could focus on packing up.

"I heard Edward Cullen talked to you at your locker yesterday." Jessica tried to keep her tone light, but I could hear the accusation there—the 'I told you I'm into him, now you have to leave him alone' that she was thinking.

I stared at her. I would probably never get used to how fast gossip traveled around Forks High—specifically gossip about me, especially considering I was almost certain no one had been in the hallway with us during Edward's strange confrontation. "Um, yeah," I finally said cautiously.

She nodded. "That's a big deal."

I blinked. "Um. Okay?" I knew what she was getting at, though, and sighed. "Jess, he came up to me to ask about Mike. He asked me out yesterday."

Okay, so I was sacrificing that piece of gossip to get her off my back about Edward. Sue me.

My plan worked—her whole face lit up and she started peppering me with questions. She seemed displeased when I told her I'd said no, which surprised me… I'd honestly thought she had a bit of a crush on him. Maybe that was just all their work together on the planning committee making me see things that weren't there.

By the time she was satisfied with that story, her mind seemed to have moved on to other topics—particularly a trip she was planning on taking with Angela to Port Angeles to shop for homecoming dresses.

"Please come, Bella," she pouted. "It'll be fun! We could go to a movie and get lunch and everything!"

I flinched away from a tall guy who got a little too close as he turned into the English room. "I don't really do dances," I told Jessica, who seemed oblivious to my discomfort.

"Then just come shopping."

I was about to protest, but remembered my promise to myself that I would try to be open to new things with friends. Reluctantly, I nodded. "Okay. I'm in."

Jess squealed, but the warning bell rang and she scampered off to her class while I backed into English. Mrs. Mason smiled at me warmly as I went to my desk, being sure to take the long way around to avoid getting too close to anyone.

That was how it went some days. I was pissed at myself—yesterday I'd been alone with Mike Newton and been fine. I'd been alone with Edward Cullen and been fine. Hell—Edward had caught me to his chest, holding me in an almost-embrace before I was able to fall. My cheeks were starting to redden remembering that moment, though whether it was because of my embarrassment at my clumsiness or the quickening of my heart when I thought of Edward so close I wasn't sure.

But last night… last night had been a nightmare night. I hadn't had one since coming to Forks and was hopeful beyond hope that they were gone for good with the change of scenery. I was wrong, of course. After a nearly hour-long phone call with my mother while she prattled on about her newest yoga instructor (she'd left three for "differences of opinion"), I'd fallen into bed only to drown in dreams fraught with disembodied hands and fleeting scenes of things best left forgotten, but too often pulled into consciousness. When I shot up, my pajamas soaked through with sweat and my clock reading 2:17 AM, I was relieved rather than annoyed that my sleep had been interrupted and spent the rest of the night finishing Little Women.

Which meant, of course, that I was on edge and exhausted all morning. By lunch I was falling asleep in my seat, and Angela hissed at Jess to give me a minute when she saw my face. No one bugged me after that. Apparently, Angela had a bit of a maternal side to her; she also made me eat an orange when she saw I hadn't consumed anything else.

By biology I knew I would have to ask Edward to keep pinching me through the lecture to stay awake before we went to the lab portion of the class. I had my head in my hands, trying to take just a moment to close my eyes before class started, when I suddenly thought about how dangerous I was going to be in gym class and dead on my feet and let out an involuntary dark chuckle.

"What are you thinking about?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin once more—what was with this kid and sneaking up on me?!

"Jesus Christ," I gasped, clutching at my chest. "Are you always like that? I need to put a bell on you. Fuck." His eyebrow rose a bit at my curse and I flushed—Renee was always telling me that I had a sailor's mouth, but considering she was the one who raised me, she didn't have much room to talk.

"I'm sorry," he said with an amused gleam in his honey-gold eyes. I glanced over his shoulder at the windows and the sheet of rain coming down outside, needing a moment to regain my composure before looking at him again. When I glanced back, he was regarding me closely. "Are you feeling okay?"

Jesus Christ. I mean, I knew I felt like shit—I always did on days after particularly haunted nightmares—but apparently I looked like shit too if Edward was picking up on it. "I'm fine," I grumbled. "Didn't sleep well." He nodded slowly, then turned his attention to the front of the room while Mr. Molina called the class to attention.

I never got around to asking Edward to keep me awake, but he did so anyway, nudging my hand ever so gently with his own on the table the two times I dozed off. Each time I glanced his way to mouth thanks, but he was looking straight ahead, his jaw seeming tighter than it had before the class started.

When Mr. Molina's lecture ended and we were left to our partners to get the lab books and worksheets done for the next unit's labs, I practically felt Edward's eyes on me once more and turned to look at him.

"You have the better handwriting, so I was thinking that…" but my thought trailed off when I saw how intensely he was staring at me. "What? Do I have something on my face?" Oh God, maybe I drooled when I dozed off and there was a stain. My hands flew up to check, but he shook his head hastily.

"No, nothing like that. I just, ah… got caught up in thought." He smiled ruefully, more to himself than me, and refocused his attention. "What were you saying about handwriting?"

The beginning of this new lab was mostly busywork, and we chatted softly while working. Well, to be fair, it was mostly me chatting and him prodding me on whenever I wanted to ask him something. He seemed curious about everything, and I figured out what his favorite question was quickly… "What are you thinking?" must have come out of his mouth a dozen times, whenever there was a lull in conversation. I couldn't remember the last time someone had paid this much friendly attention to me in a long time. Frankly, it made me a little uncomfortable, but the few times I tried to redirect the questioning towards me he managed to spin the conversation around using logic that made my head spin and had me talking again.

When the bell rang, he didn't rush out of his seat as he had the day before. He packed quickly, but said a friendly goodbye before dashing out into the hall. As if his presence had been the last thing energizing me, I felt suddenly drained and wobbled a little on my feet. Somehow the conversation made me forget how tired I was and now it was back full force.

I stumbled through the rest of the day, probably looking half-drunk and not feeling altogether far away from it. After gym I lingered in the girl's locker room and splashed some cold water on my face, trying to wake myself up before the drive back to Charlie's house. I clutched the edges of the porcelain sink and looked myself in the mirror.

"Get it together, Bella," I mumbled to myself. The girl in the mirror looked like hell—much more like someone that had just gone through a war zone than someone who missed out on a few hours of sleep. It wasn't uncommon. Even if I didn't wake up during nightmares, on mornings after I always felt like shit. I squinted at the gauntness of my cheeks and sighed, straightening up and trying to smile.

With my locker upstairs and my truck not far from the gym, I decided to forgo the trip and make do for the night with what was in my backpack. The rain from earlier had dissipated, leaving a thick, earthy humidity in its place. My hair started to frizz the second I stepped into it. I would need to invest in a good hairspray, apparently.

I wasn't ten feet out the door when I caught one of my shoelaces under my foot and yanked my body forward without support, almost faceplanting before a shocking hard pair of arms once again grabbed me.

"You alright?" It wasn't the voice I was expecting based on my prior experience, but it was equally as melodic, like bells in the wind. After steadying myself I looked down only to see that none other than 4'9 Alice Cullen had saved me from what would have been a pretty nasty scrape across the face from the concrete. My eyes boggled a bit in disbelief that this tiny waif of a girl could have kept me upright before I composed myself.

"Yeah, thanks," I practically whispered, my cheeks bright red by now. Alice looked… well, she looked a little amused, but the concern wasn't far behind that.

"You don't look alright," she said, pursing her lips and looking at me carefully. Finally, she snapped and said, "Come on. I'll drive you home."

I just blinked at her as she spun around and started walking away from me, her steps so graceful that they had more of the appearance of a dance. When she realized I wasn't following, she stopped and turned back around.

"Are you coming?"

"Um, I…" I racked my brain, trying to figure out what to say—but some part of me wasn't even absorbing what was happening. God, was I tired. I just wanted to go home, wanted to curl up in bed and sleep… But a pixie with spiky black hair and honey-gold eyes was watching me expectantly.

Honey-gold eyes. Just like Edward's. But I thought Jessica said they weren't related? It couldn't be a coincidence—they were the first two people I'd ever encountered with that eye color.

"Bella?"

I snapped back to attention as Alice looked on, the concern starting to take over more and more of her face. "I have my truck," I said dumbly, holding out the keys.

She nodded slowly. "I'll drive you home in that. Come on. You look dead on your feet, it isn't safe for you to drive right now."

She was right, I knew that. Charlie would kill me if he was called to the scene of an accident that I caused by driving in the state I was in after that gym class sucked out the last of my energy. That is, if the accident didn't kill me—or worse, someone else—first.

"How will you get home?"

She jerked her head behind her, and I looked to see Edward leaning against a silver car, watching us with his arms crossed over his chest. "He's my ride. He'll follow me to your house and take me home from there."

"But you don't even know me."

Alice smiled widely and took a few steps forward, extending her arm to me. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Alice Cullen."

I took her hand reflexively. I didn't jump this time when I felt how cold it was… just like Edward's. There was no way they weren't related. Jess must be mistaken.

"I'm Bella Swan."

She nodded and looped her arm through my own, guiding me forward gently but with a surprising amount of strength. "Let's get you home, Bella Swan."

We were silent on the way there except for the thrum of air from the driver's window, which she's cracked open on entry. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, listening to the whoosh of the driving, until I heard gravel crunch under the wheels of the truck and opened my eyes to find us in Charlie's driveway.

Alice shut off the car, closed the window, and gracefully left from the cab before I even had my seatbelt undone. I staggered out as well, nearly falling but catching myself, grinning when I did—it wasn't often I saved myself from wipeout.

I shuffled around the truck to where Alice was waiting patiently by the driver's door. "Do you need help getting inside?" she asked politely as he dropped the keys into my hand.

"No, I'm good," I said. The reality of the situation had just sunk in—I was in such a fog and apparently looked such a mess that a complete stranger drove me home, and I only half-realized it. I closed my eyes for a moment before looking at her again with a tight smile. "Thank you, Alice. I am so, so sorry about this."

She held up her hand and airily waved my words off. "Not a problem. Get some, rest, Bella. If you need anything…" She trailed off and eyed me. "Well, I'm around. I'll see you later." It looked like she wanted to say something else, but after a moment she spun, flouncing over to the silver car from the parking lot that was now idling on the side of the road and sliding into the back seat. I watched it drive off my with eyebrows knit. That had to be the weirdest encounter of my life. No one at my school in Phoenix would have even looked my way, no matter how messed up I looked.

Another thought occurred to me then, one that gave me a little more pause. I thought back to the entire event—me almost falling, Alice insisting on driving me home, the introduction, her watching me mindfully as I climbed into the passenger's side of the cab—but no. I definitely never told Alice where I lived.