I tried to talk to Mr Banner about Edward Cullen and not wanting to partner with him.

I guess I was not the only student who refused to work with Edward, because I ended up being told to deal with "whatever is going on" because he wasn't going to single out someone for being weird.

When I told Jessie what Mr Banner said, she rolled her eyes so hard they almost came out her ears.

"Dr Cullen donates a lot to the school," Jessie said.

I had tried to tell Mike about how weird Edward was, but like every other teenage boy I had met… he didn't seem to really understand the "feels."

Mike had said, "I know he was an asshole, but everyone is an asshole. But I will work with him if you don't want to."

Which worked for the first two times Edward tried to work with me. And he was trying his hardest. Eventually Mr Banner ended up just telling me to work with him, as Edward had already moved through every other group and "fair is fair."

"He's got an A in the class," Mike said.

"Angela also has an A," I said.

"Your point?"

"If no one will work with someone who makes this high of a grade… something is seriously wrong with him."

Mr Banner told me to go sit beside Edward and if I didn't, I would get marked down for the assignment. I was not repeating this class, but I would be repeating what he said to the principal. Still, I went to sit beside Edward with great reluctance.

Mr Banner passed out slides for onion roots. We were supposed to work with lab partners to see what phases of mitosis they were in. This was going to be a nightmare. I was already barely passing this class, let alone getting this correct. My brain couldn't seem to tell the difference between any of this.

I had been passing through the grace of my friends. I could memorize the answers for a test pretty easily, but I was allowed extra time to take them. This was the sort of thing I would need luck and prayer for. I was too stubborn to repeat this class again, so hopefully Edward would just do the whole thing.

Mr Banner told us we had 30 minutes and then started grading tests.

Edward looked at me with weirdly dark eyes. I waited.

"Ladies first?" Edward asked.

"I am gonna fail this," I said. "I am not good at science at all."

"You are getting a B in the class," Edward said.

I jerked my head around to look at him. "How did you know that? I don't even know what my grade is."

"I help Mr Banner grade stuff," Edward said.

"It's really creepy," I said. "You need to learn how to—Anyways, I do well on tests. This sort of thing gives me anxiety."

Edward pulled the microscope towards him and loaded up the first slide. "You can write it down," he said.

"Okay," I said.

"Prophase," he said.

He loaded the slides one by one, letting me look through them. I had no idea what I was looking at and it must have shown.

He listed all the phases clearly, even telling me when I made a spelling mistake. When we were done looking, we went through the work sheet and he clearly listed the answers, as if he pulled them from the air.

"You really aren't good at this," Edward said.

"I told you I wasn't," I said.

"I just thought you would be good at everything."

"Don't say things like that," I replied. "It comes across weird."

He stopped talking and looked away from me.

I let us sit in silence until Mr Banner came around. He asked if Edward had let me look at the microscope. I said he had. That seemed to please the teacher, who took our papers and told us we could leave early if we wanted.

Edward waited for me to leave and followed me out. I should have stayed in the classroom, but I really had to pee.

"Why won't you accept my apology?" Edward asked.

"Because you don't sound like you mean it," I said. "And it was a weird way to apologize. You gave me food, then started following me around."

"Clearly you don't like me but—" Edward started.

"Then you understand why I don't want to be around you at all. Look, you are probably a decent person. I don't have time for people who don't listen to boundaries. Especially someone like you," I said. "I went through that enough in Phoenix."

I headed towards the bathroom, not even looking back. Edward Cullen was obviously not used to people being honest with him. Which was surprising because no one seemed to like him that much. So, why wouldn't he be used to people saying no? It was weird, but I didn't have time for people who didn't listen. I didn't move away from Renee to get trapped in weird mind games with another human.

I was in the bathroom for twenty minutes, texting Amelia. Unlike Phoenix, these bathrooms were sparkling clean. There were seven stalls with shining white toilets and no weird poetry carved into the walls.

When I got out of the stall, a short brunette was washing her hands. I hadn't heard her enter.

When she turned to look at me, I took a step back. It was one of Edward's older siblings.

"I'm Alice," she said.

I took another step backwards. Then another towards the door. There was a very direct, unwavering coldness to her expression. She had weirdly amber eyes and a face so stiff it might shatter if she moved her mouth. She had noticeably short, uneven hair.

"You are a bit rude," Alice said.

"I don't want to talk to you," I said.

Alice dropped her gaze, turned back to the sink, and started washing her hands again. Then she shook off her fingers, walked out the door, and didn't look back. I felt my lungs start working again when she was gone.

What the fuck was wrong with this family?

I told Jessie about what happened in the bathroom the next time I saw her. She didn't look surprised.

"Alice Cullen is insane," she said. "Rosalie will make you feel like shit for breathing the same air… Alice will tell you when you're going to die."

"Why are they allowed in the school?" I said. "This whole family sounds like a nightmare for everyone involved."

"Their dad has money," Jessie said.

"Yeah, that tracks," I said.

I didn't move to Forks to deal with psychotic people. I would be talking to someone about what was going on the next time someone crossed a line. I had already been super clear to Edward I didn't want to be friends with him. I hoped he would use his fucking listening ears, like we learned in kindergarten.