And here it is! After like, a week or so? Or was it two? Hmm...

Thanks to my new Beta Selene Rose Grey for going over this -only for FFN to fuck up the document and erase all your hard and amazing work. Ahh, C'est la vie XD

Also, let me just say that no, Edgar has no special powers or whatever. She's just a weirdo. A cool one, but a weirdo nonetheless. Just thought I'd put it out there before you guys started on the chapter.

Hope you enjoy it :)

Review?


Chapter XII - Black


"You were not at school yesterday." A familiar voice remarked, jutting a leg out, forcing her to stop in the middle of making her way to her own biology desk at the back of the classroom. Clutching her books close to her person, she levelled the offender with a blank stare.

"I was not." She acknowledged. "May I ask why you have decided to block my path?" Edgar asked, looking meaningfully at the boot clad foot. She vaguely remarked that they looked quite expensive –rummaging through her father's closet for sweaters (much to his exasperation) had taught her to recognise men's labels.

Edward gave her a crooked grin -one that oddly sent the blond girl two seats over into strange breathing patterns, for some reason that Edgar couldn't comprehend- and gestured to the empty seat next to him. "Sit with me today. I need a partner." He said, looking far too amused. The black haired girl's eyes slid to the empty stool by the window, noticing that it was in fact empty, however, as she had no intentions on filling it, raised her leg to step over the impromptu barricade.

"I shall have to decline that offer." She murmured, already moving on.

"Mr Banner said everyone should find someone to work with –it's on the board. Last I checked, we both sit alone. It would only be convenient for us to work together." Edward stated, making her pause mid-step.

She sighed inwardly, turning to look at the large whiteboard, which stated in large and bold blue letters 'PARTNER UP!'

"I suppose we're lucky today isn't a full period. I'm sure you'll survive my daunting presence for just thirty minutes." He drawled wryly, golden eyes glinting. Edgar simply blinked once at him, before resigning herself to her fate, and shuffling into the empty place next to him. It wasn't as if she had much of a choice if the teacher had instructed it. She wondered where he was in the first place, since he most of the class had already had arrived and he was still absent. Edgar thought it particularly vexing that the person who was supposed to teach the class was the one who was absent.

Well, to be honest, she could recognise the fact that her current irritation was not Mr Banner's fault, but the fault of her Weekly Art Subscription magazine for covering an interview with Lauriana Burkely and her take on Surrealism, also touching upon her Gallery that would be taking place on Friday in Seattle. The show she wouldn't be able to go to because her father had refused on the basis of "No Art Shows until you manage to raise your grades up to my satisfaction, and by that, I mean please at least try and get a B."

And the worst part was that she very well could if she tried, most of the work the teachers gave out was fairly simple, nothing that couldn't be worked through without a little thought on her part. But really, the question was why did she need to bother anyway? And despite how noticeably nicer Mrs Nott had been the past week, it's not as if knowing the exact date Bloody Mary died was going to help her in any way. Although, knowing what she looked like could possibly be helpful one day –perhaps she'd have the urge to paint Queens of the Middle Ages someday, but that day was decidedly not today.

"Where were you yesterday?" Edward asked, sounding a mix of curious and frustrated. Edgar shrugged.

"I don't see how that's any of your concern." She told him, eyes drifting to the clock at the front of the room. Mr Banner was almost ten minutes late.

"Indulge me." He said and this time she really did sigh.

"Seattle." She answered after a moment.

"Oh?" He asked, "What for?" He asked again. The image of Mrs Brighton's penthouse flitted through her mind, and she found herself almost ready to take her up on the offer of tea, just to be able to take the chance to be able to really paint that ancient blue Vase that had caught her attention. She lamented the fact that she'd only been able to get a quick sketch done of it. Some things were best seen in colour.

"A delivery." Was all she said. Edward hummed thoughtfully, tapping his long fingers on the desk surface. Edgar found her gaze drawn to his elegant hands, and wondered idly if she'd ever seen such a perfect pair in her life. Pale, smooth and long fingered with impeccably shaped nails. Her own fingers twitched, and she knew that if it were any other person, she'd be halfway through drawing them by now.

However, it wasn't, and as much as she loved beautiful things, once again, she thought the male next to her had absolutely no right to exist outside of fairy tales and mythology.

At this point in time, she wasn't even sure if she wanted to throw Edward down the highest cliff while grinning in triumph, or kidnapping him and holding him hostage until she finished capturing every single detail, on paper, canvas and maybe stone. She wasn't much of a sculptor, but the opportunity would be too good to pass by.

Granted, she acknowledged that right then, she was leaning more to the option of throwing him off a cliff.

The subject of her thoughts seemed entertained. "You were delivering Angelina Brighton's portrait then?" He guess accurately. Edgar shrugged and chose not to answer.

Edward let out a slight huff of amusement but didn't say anything else since their long-lost teacher chose that entrance to make his grand entrance, holding a stack of dossiers in his arms. "Sorry I'm late class! The printer was misbehaving." He announced loudly, dropping the stack on his desk (which Edgar personally thought would do well with a little more colour –as would the rest of the class) with a clear sound of relief. He then clapped his hands and faced the class with a bright grin.

"We don't have much time today, so I'm going to hit straight to the chase!" He said, moving to the board and picking up the eraser, removing the previous words which had covered it. "Your homework for this ten day break will be to complete the assigned project with the person sitting next to you!" He declared, before underling the words 'Worth Sixty Percent of Your Grade!' and placing the green marker down.

His announcement was met with mostly sounds of despair from the students, not that Edgar could blame them either. She could empathise for once.

"Each couple will be assigned one subject we've covered from the beginning of the school year –which honestly was only a few months ago, so not that big a deal- and maybe a chosen few will be asked to present it to the class, so you guys better be prepared because I'll be choosing at random!" Mr Banner warned, making even more people groan. "I want it thorough, and comprehensive, with pictures and the like. It better be good, because like it says on the board it will be worth a lot of your grade for this term!"

She glanced at Edward from the corner of her eye, but he didn't look too happy about the newfound developments either, his dark brows creased together lightly as he contemplated something. She frowned, her displeasure showing through. Working with him was not the problem, contrary to what one might believe, because though she didn't hold the best esteem of him (his arrogance and pure existence bothered her), aside from that, she had no real personal problem with him. The fact of the matter was she had work to do this holiday; she already had six paintings requested from clients both from within the country and around the world with probably more to come, three people asking her to come and do the interior of their houses (let it never be said that her family did not have connections and amazing business sense) and she also had other personal projects she was working on. She didn't think she'd have the time to add a school project onto all of that, no matter how accurately she'd plan her days.

Plus, she doubted she even have any motivation to do any school work off campus –just getting her to do homework was always something that left her father with a headache at the end.

"It won't be anything too tedious," Mr Banner said trying to reassure them as if he'd read her mind, not that it did much, "I just thought it a good way to see if you've all been paying attention in class." The middle-aged man placed the stack on one of the front row desks, where two blond males sat.

"Take one and pass it along. They're all different, but you're not allowed to open them until I say so, and they're closed shut so you'll have no chances of 'accidentally' glimpsing inside either." The sarcasm was palpable in his voice as he moved behind his desk and sat down, picking up a pen.

The files were passed along fairly quickly, and soon the two of them had their own sitting innocently in between them, almost mocking Edgar with its calm black colour.

Edward blinked, before giving her a half-hearted smile. "Well partner, it seems you'll have to endure for slightly more time than originally planned." He quipped jokingly.


In his defence, Edward hadn't known that there'd be a project when he'd invited Edgar to sit next to him. He thought that perhaps they'd only be working together during class and be done with it, although in a way, he also considered it a stroke of luck. Being paired with some other person would have been a complete nightmare. At least he knew she was very intelligent –he however, couldn't say them same for some of the other humans in the class.

A paired project was also a little dangerous, there were of course risks with spending an extended amount of time in the company of a human, and his family wouldn't be happy, but he was sure that if he were careful and they never worked at his own house, he'd be fine. Plus it would give him more opportunities to get to know the enigma that was Edgar Beauregard.

The small smile that made its way onto his face made him feel only a little bit guilty. He know he shouldn't be feeling anticipation, but he couldn't particularly help it even if he tried. He'd always appreciated a good mystery, something to occupy his time and keep him interested –obviously a rare thing when one lived for as long as he had.

Though, he could acknowledge the project was an inconvenience to her. He'd been surprised to learn how busy she'd be during the break, because of course he knew she was talented, he just wasn't aware that so many others did too, and clearly sought out her talent for their own. Someone all the way in New Zealand had even placed an order.

She was very successful for her age, he knew of plenty cases where not even fully grown adults made as much as she did on a yearly basis, never mind weekly as she seemed to do. It was interesting to him though, because she didn't seem like the type to do it for money, going so far as to pay her subjects into letting her use them. He concluded that turning her art into a business was her father's idea. He knew of Charles Beauregard of course, considering the fact that he worked with his mother quite often. Ironically, those instances always concerned his daughter being requested to paint the house Esme had just finished designing on the demand of the owners.

Edgar wasn't famous in the art world per se, but those who did know about her talent tended to call on her quite frequently. "No one could paint a wall mural quite like she did" was the opinion of many. At the rate she was going, Edward had no doubt she'd become very well-known very quickly.

Funnily enough though, neither he nor his mother had known it was Edgar who usually painted the interior of the houses Esme designed up until two and half weeks ago –when their family had first learned of her existence to be precise.

"It would be more convenient if we worked at my house, as you already know its location. It will save us unnecessary trouble." The subject of his voice uttered, voice characteristically calm and dreamy. His back stiffened and he sucked in a sharp breath from tightly clenched teeth, barely stopping himself from crushing the fragile metal of his locker door, though it still dented. His brows rose in surprise when he noticed her standing right next to him, leaning against the lockers beside his own. She looked so utterly nonchalant, body relaxed and large eyes staring straight ahead into the hallway filled with busy students, looking but not really seeing.

He was almost too shocked to form a response, because this girl, this human girl had managed to sneak up on him! Something no one had managed to do for decades. He had forgotten the feeling, having grown complacent. His every muscle was tense, each of his senses were tingling and it left him reeling and fumbling to calm down the venomous adrenaline rushing through his veins, lest his instinct override his mind and he ended up attacking the girl.

He swallowed the venom pooling in his mouth -the result of his body having falsely anticipated an attack and beginning to prepare its defences- and took a deep breath before replying. "When would be best for you?" He asked, and he heard the strain in his voice. He was shaken, clearly. And the worst part is that he could still smell her scent (paint, forest and rain), and he could also hear her thoughts perfectly clearly (currently running through her schedule to decide on a convenient date), plus her heartbeat was still thumping loud and clear, so he didn't understand how she had done it.

Oblivious to his inner panic, Edgar let out a thoughtful hum. "We can start on Thursday morning, at around eleven." She said, turning her almost empty gaze up to the bland ceiling. "Will that be alright?" The black haired girl asked, though much to his slight amusement, he could hear her contemplating how best to sneak into the school during the break in order to paint the 'horrid' ceilings. He would have found it even funnier, if his mental state was not currently a panic-zone.

"That would be alright." He agreed and she nodded, using her weight to push off where she was leaning and looking at him.

Her clear coloured eyes appeared blank, but much to his displeasure, her mind was taking in his demeanour. Apparently, he hadn't hidden his discomfort as well as he'd thought, considering the fact that she'd easily picked it up, mentally and accurately connecting the signs to all she'd read about Body Language –in particular, nervousness.

She's far too observant, he thought with a frown.

But much to his relief, although she realised his anxiousness and acknowledged it, she didn't care enough to broach the subject. Giving him one last long look, she blinked for the first time since she'd approached him, before she turned and drifted on her way, as if the whole interaction had never even happened in the first place.

He gave a sigh of relief once she'd disappeared behind a corner, trying to regain his composure.

That whole interaction had been unsettling –to know that she was so casually able to make her way over and stand next to him for who knows how long, without him realising her presence, was admittedly 'creepy', as the youth of the current age would say.

She being able to easily see straight through his false calm was also unsettling (although a part of him was entirely amused to know that she'd actually studied books on Body Language and the like. Was she really that naturally socially inept that she had to rely on text to understand normal behaviour?).

He ran a hand through his already messy hair, before pulling himself together and making his way to his next class, a frown on his face.

The more he learned about the girl, the stranger she became.

Although, he thought, his frown making way for a small grin, she also becomes more intriguing.