i

BELLA WENT BACK TO SCHOOL with a more profound sense of fear. There was indeed a reason to be afraid of him and his family, even if it couldn't be proven. They were uncanny in the way they moved and talked and looked. They caused her heart to seize and her mind to panic; it wouldn't matter if they were monsters or not. Bella stumbled her way through the day, worried about her biology class.

She avoided looking at the table that the Cullens frequented, but she could still feel their stares. When she finally peeked a glance, just a small peek with her hair covering most of her face, Jasper and Alice were watching her. Alice was mostly nice; she had a nice laugh that tinkled in the halls, and she was gentle in the way she talked. Bella was unsure about jasper. The strange man, with wavy hair and vigilant eyes, was entirely expressionless on most days. Bella had only seen him smile once in the last three weeks, and it had only been at Alice. Bella took her eyes off them, and finally felt the racing of her heart. In a rush, she went to the counselor's office, hoping they'd be able to change her schedule. She'd just change periods, even if it meant she had class without her friends. She couldn't take the anxiety of being aware of the Cullens, and she couldn't handle Edward again.

Unfortunately, Edward had beaten her to it. He was leaning over the desk that the secretary to the office was sitting at. The woman was older, with gray hairs interspersed with her blonde, and she looked incredibly annoyed. Her hands tapped against her desk, making her wedding bands twinkle in the fluorescent light. She peered at her computer for a second, before looking back at the Cullen boy.

"I'm sorry Mr. Cullen, but I can't move you. There's only one other period for that class, and it's completely full," the woman said, annoyance filling her voice. She turned the computer screen as if to show him, but the boy merely pushed himself off the desk and scoffed.

His scowl alone set Bella off, and she darted from the office without a second thought. There was no way she could get away from it now; she was stuck in class with him. Bella hoped that after the project was done, she wouldn't be forced to sit or work with him anymore. Perhaps she should mention something to her teacher and avoid him for the entire year. Bella held onto these hopes as she returned to lunch.

ii

Bella had arrived nice and early to try and catch Mr. Banner before class, but she was greeted with the sight of Edward already at her table. She gulped down her fear and hopped back out into the hallway. Angela and Jessica were coming to the door when Bella stopped them.

"Guys," she started, trying to keep her voice low, "What am I gonna do?"

Jessica, already aware of the situation, gave her a small grimace. "I'm not sure, but if he pulls anything weird this period, let me know. Maybe I can accidentally drop my four-pound textbook on his toes."

Bella laughed a bit, trying to calm her nerves. They had another minute before the second bell rang, so she shook herself. Angela smiled at her, petting her arm. "You got this, Bella. Don't let some weirdo ruin your day."

"Yeah, he's not worth it. The guy might look okay, but his attitude destroys it. Plus, you can always throw back anything he tries to toss at you," Jessica said, turning into the doorway of the classroom. Bella only nodded, following along with her bookbag tossed over her shoulders. She'd just do her best to ignore him; they were right about him not being worth it.

iii

Bella was miffed that he had taken her seat closer to the window. She had enjoyed being able to look outside in her downtime, (which she had plenty of because she finished things in class early). Trying to look out the window now would only force her to also look at him. She didn't want to acknowledge his existence if she didn't have to. However, the first thing she had to do when she sat down was acknowledge him.

"Hello," he said to her, his voice in the mid-range, but missing something that could be heard in most other voices. It seemed as if everything behind it was empty. She had looked at Edward with surprise, having expected him to act the way he had yesterday. "I don't believe I have introduced myself."

Bella sat down, trying to look anywhere but at him. She tried to listen for the bell and pretend that he hadn't spoken to her. She rummaged through her bag, taking out her biology notebook and her favorite pen. (It was a cute pen with a cactus topper and black ink. She hadn't written notes in pencils for forever- it had been a cute gift from her mom). "My name is Edward. Your name is Isabella, right?"

Despite her ignoring him, the boy just continued to talk. Bella frowned at this and the fact that he had used her full name. How did he know that? Mr. Banner had called her Miss Swan the day before. She finally decided to glimpse at him. The only thing she bothered to say was, "It's Bella."

She honestly tried to put her focus on the teacher and the things he was telling her class to do before getting to work on their project. (They were prepping to map out the biodiversity of the Pacific Northwest and compare it to other regions. Bella thought that it was kind of cool, despite being a little simpler than she was expecting). Edward decided that her ignoring him was not a clear signal and continued to talk.

"You're new here, right?" His voice had dropped in volume, but only a sliver. It was still something that was pulling her attention away from where she had wanted it to be. Bella frowned and shook her head, trying to disregard him. She went on scribbling down quick things that Mr. Banner expected to see in their project, before opening her textbook. "I rather like your name, although the byname for it is a little childish."

Bella's face began to heat up in embarrassment. Who was he to make fun of the nickname her father had given her? It was less frilly than her full name anyhow. "Can we get to work now, please?" Bella barely mumbled her plea as she flipped through her book. (She really needed to find the section on flora so she would know where to start).

"Ah, yes," he said, twisting himself so he was turned more towards the desk. He pulled out his own textbook and flipped open to the exact page that she had been looking for. "That is a great idea, Isabella." He smiled, and something cold washed over her. "We can share mine. No point in having both books taking up the table if we're working on the same thing."

Without waiting for her approval, he plopped the book in between them and leaned closer to her. A sickeningly sweet smell wafted over her, and she had a headache almost instantly. "What the hell is he using for cologne? It reeks," she thought. On top of the smell, he had also gotten far too close to her for comfort. It was as if he was completely unaware of social boundaries. There were times when Bella could understand that being an issue with people, but she had a feeling he was doing it on purpose.

They worked in silence for a few minutes, with Bella taking notes on specific things to look for, and how to make the map. Edward mostly read it out loud, a soft mumble that Bella wished would go away. She had always had issues with people trying to read aloud what she was reading in her head; it seemed to throw her off.

"We should split into fauna and flora for this, and then cover fungi together. We're not going to get all of this done in the next two classes if we do the same things together." Bella said with confidence in her voice. She knew what to do for projects like these, and she wasn't going to let him change that fact.

"Ah! Wonderful idea, Isabella. Perhaps you should do flora, as we've already started it. I can handle fauna," Edward said, a sense of superiority exuding from him. Bella frowned again, making sure he could see it.

"What do you mean by that?" She wanted to smack him, or maybe set Jessica off on him. Jess would probably get him to straighten up his act.

The oblivious boy sitting next to her only smiled. The smile served to make Bella more uncomfortable. It was still unnerving but mixed with the weird smell he was giving off it made her confused. Something was seriously wrong, but she couldn't pinpoint what.

"I was only saying, Isabella, that you'll have an easier time finishing what we have already started. Once we have all the pieces that we want, we'll put the map together." He had waved off her question as if the way he had said it meant nothing. What he had said could be kind if it was coming from anyone else, but it was the fact that he said it. Bella knew, despite having interacted with him for all of twenty minutes, that everything was two-sided with him. He was the kind of person who would say and do things to get what he wanted.

Bella was suddenly afraid of him for a second reason. People like that were dangerous in their own right.