Chapter Five

I spent the night lost in my thoughts. Were the Cullens the 'Cold Ones' from the Quileute legends? If they are, does that make them… vampires? No way… vampires don't exist… Vampires are just a legend used for horror movies and Halloween costumes.

What about ghosts? Aiden more or less asked with a hint of humour in his thoughts.

'Horror movies and Halloween costumes,' I laughed 'I get your point.'

But a group (coven?) of vampires in the middle of a small town in America living as a regular family, how would they do it? What would they eat? Surely people would notice when residents of the town went missing… Then again, Jacob had said that these cold ones were different, that they had made a treaty with the natives on the reserve not to take a human life. If this was true did they go far away to eat or did they have an alternative food source? Maybe these real-life vampires were different from the old stories of blood drinking, murderous monsters.

This would make sense though, the pale skin, strange eyes, all of them looking alike in this way and all of them strikingly beautiful. I knew that I should feel some fear from this theory, but I felt… comforted. I know it's strange but I've never known anyone different like me- not quite like me, but still different in a supernatural way. I felt slightly less alone at this thought.

The weekend passed slowly, on Sunday I went to the local music store to buy an acoustic guitar, it had been a while since I last played and I was realizing how much I missed it. I spent Sunday relearning guitar from chords online and rereading my favourite book for probably the 20th time. I found myself nervous to go back to school tomorrow, I had checked the weather and it was supposed to be overcast and snow- perfect weather for the Cullens to be in school. For Edward to be back in school.

The next morning came quickly, time speeding past as it does when you are approaching something you're dreading. After thinking about it for a long time I had accepted what I truly believed that Edward and his family were, but there was still one mystery, how did he know Aiden was there? Could he see him? Sense him? … Hear him? Once Aiden had stopped talking that day Edward had looked around puzzled as though Aiden had vanished. Could he read minds? As far as I could remember, mind reading wasn't an attribute of classic vampires, turning into a bat maybe, but reading minds? Maybe he was like me, maybe he was linked to the spirit world like I was, able to see spirits that roamed this world.

While this seemed very unlikely, so did everything that I have thought about over the last few days. I tried to shut off my brain and just get ready for the day. I quickly got dressed, grabbed my completed homework and the textbooks I needed and shoved it all into my backpack. I went to the bathroom, brushed out my wavy hair, brushed my teeth and took off for Forks High.

I arrived to a steadily filling parking lot, and just as I had backed into my parking spot I noticed a shiny silver Volvo pulling into a spot across the lot from me. The person driving the car was Edward Cullen. Crap. All that confidence I had built up came crashing down as I realized he was back, I expected him to be back but apparently I wasn't ready to face him- and neither was Aiden.

I guessed my unexpected anxiety was probably fueled by Aiden; I tried to calm him down.

'You can do it.' I said to him, still sitting in my truck. 'I know it sucks but you have to be quiet while we are around him' I heard him start to protest, but I cut him off, 'We need to see how he reacts when you aren't making any noise, we need to see if he knows you're there without you making it known. I promise it's not for long, ok?' He assented begrudgingly, going quiet immediately after. 'Thanks Aiden' I smiled at him.

The first two periods of school flashed by with no sign of a Cullen, but I knew that I didn't have any mutual classes with them. By lunch time I was a bundle of nerves. I sat at my usual table with my friends and my eyes immediately went to the table that had been vacant the last two school days. Most of the family was already seated there while two of the oldest, Emmett and Rosalie I believed, were making their way to the table with trays laden with food I knew they wouldn't be eating.

I looked back at the table and they were talking amongst themselves, no one looking at me. Was it all in my head? Was I just being paranoid? I didn't think so, but who knows, I was trained to be paranoid and not to take everything as it appears. I slowly ate my lunch and tried not to look over at their table again. I participated in conversation and acted as if nothing was wrong, I was quite proud of myself.

The bell rang and I dragged my feet bringing my tray to the garbage and throwing out what I didn't eat. I wasn't in any hurry to get to biology but unfortunately I had to force myself forwards towards what I have been dreading for the last 5 days. I entered the biology classroom and saw Edward seating in the seat he sat in on that first day, the seat next to him open, waiting for me. I walked towards the open stool and sat on it looking everywhere but Edward, not wanting to face his glares again today. As I was pulling my notebook out of my backpack I heard a soft voice say

'Hello.'

My head shot up and looked at him; he was actually talking to me.

'I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week, my name is Edward. You're Bella?' he asked.

'How do you know my name?' I asked dumbly, my brain had frozen; I couldn't form any real thoughts.

'Oh, I think everyone knows your name. Everyone's been waiting to see who this emancipated teenager is from across the country.' He joked.

'Ah, that…' I said clearly uncomfortable. Thankfully he let it drop.

Luckily Mr. Banner started the class at this moment explaining the lab we would be doing. He gave us all a box of slides that were out of order, using a microscope we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis that they represented and label them correctly within 20 minutes.

'Ladies first?' He asked, I looked up at him and he was giving me the most beautiful crooked smile, I stared at him for a few seconds too long and his smile started to drop.

'Yes, sorry, I'll go first.' I said, blushing and turning away from him. Luckily for me I had done a very similar experiment with Cole back home. He tried to keep up my education as best as he could.

I pulled the microscope towards me and analyzed the first slide 'Prophase.' I said confidently.

'Mind if I look?' he asked reaching for the microscope. As he did this his hand brushed mine and I realized how cold it was. This wasn't all that surprising considering what I thought he was, but still it surprised me and I pulled my hand away reflexively. 'Sorry.' He muttered.

He quickly looked into the microscope, 'prophase' he agreed and wrote it down on the paper. We went back and forth like this for the 5 slides. One person looking and saying the phase it was in and the other person checking to make sure it was right. We were done in 5 minutes while the other students all looked incredibly confused.

As we finished Mr. Banner came over 'Edward, you didn't think Bella should get a chance with the microscope?' I glared up at him, offended at his insinuation. 'Actually,' Edward responded with irritation that matched my own 'Bella identified 3 of the 5.'

'Well I guess it's a good thing you two are partners then.' He said. As he walked away he mumbled something under his breath. Either upset by what he said, or his accusation that I couldn't have done any of the work myself Aiden was seriously annoyed. Before I could say anything he tripped Mr. Banner, almost making him fall. Even though Aiden didn't make any noise when he did this Edward still looked up, puzzled about what Mr. Banner had tripped so violently on. I tried to keep my expression neutral as I started doodling in my notebook.

'It's really picking up out there.' I looked up and saw that there was a blizzard starting to rage outside.

'Great.' I said sarcastically.

'You don't like the snow?' He asked.

'Not particularly, I'm not very coordinated; I don't appreciate any added obstacles to walking across pavement.' I said jokingly.

'You must hate Forks then.' He added lightly.

'Not really, Virginia was pretty well the same. I'm definitely rethinking my choice of moving here instead of somewhere down south like Arizona.'

'Why did you move here?' he asked, his eyes burning with curiosity.

Here we go… I thought. 'I didn't have the greatest upbringing so I sought legal action to be removed from my home and emancipate myself. The judge agreed and here I am on the other side of the country.' I said vaguely.

'Were your parents not kind?' He asked concern evident in his eyes.

'My parents passed a long time ago, I've been living in a sort of foster situation ever since.' Not totally the truth but not a total lie.

'I'm sorry…' He responded, looking away awkwardly.

'What about you?' I said changing the subject, 'You and your siblings were adopted?'

'Yes' he replied smiling. 'I couldn't ask for a better family, or parents for that matter.' He saw the brief sadness in my eyes and said quietly 'I was very lucky.'

During this conversation we had moved slightly closer to each other without noticing when suddenly a loud, short growl erupted from Aiden. I tried to keep my expression neutral as Edwards eyes darted to Aiden then back to me; I looked at him, innocently confused. 'Did you hear that?' he asked clearly startled. 'Hear what?' I asked convincingly confused. He studied me for a moment with his brows furrowed. 'It was nothing I guess…' he conceded

Aiden I swear to god. We're done talking, happy? He was.

Holy long chapter. I had more I wanted to include but it didn't work out that way. Please, please review, tell me if you're enjoying it or if you're hating it. I will reply to every comment. Thanks for reading! Next chapter will be up in the next few days.