As promised an Epov. Let me know if you hate it and I won't do it again. Pinky swear.Anything Twilight related belongs to Stephenie Meyer

Chapter. 4

Epov

An incessant pounding on my door woke me from my much needed sleep. I lifted my head to find that I had fallen asleep at my desk again. A piece of paper sticking to my face and my neck killing me. This was a low point for me. I peeled the sheet from my cheek and glanced at the clock on my wall. Man, I overslept.

"Coming!" I shouted over the continued knocking. I'm going to kill my sister. She'd have to get a ride from Rose next time she needed to get to port Angeles. I sure wasn't driving her anymore. Standing up I stretched my back and went to the bathroom. A shower would have to wait until after school. After quickly throwing on some new clothes and stuffing the homework I'd slaved all night over into my school bag I sauntered down the stairs. "Nice of you to join us." Tanya said dripping sarcasm.

"Shut it." I replied low enough so my mom who sat at the kitchen table next to my sister wouldn't hear it.

"Well, you're making us late." She countered flipping her long blond hair and grabbing her bag. She gave mom a kiss on the cheek and a quick by before rushing to the door.

"By sweety!" Mom called after her then moved to me and patted my cheek which still showed the sleeping marks.

"Late night again?" I nodded. Not looking her in the eyes. "Don't be so hard on yourself." She employed handing me a granola bar. I just nodded again.

"By mom. See you after school."

"Next time I'm getting a ride with the Hales." Tanya kept lecturing me until we reached the school parking lot.

"By all means" I answered getting out of the car. She gave me an exasperated look then sauntered off to her friends. I was already counting the days until I could wave at the retreading car getting her on a plane to college far far away from me. She was a year older so I could enjoy my senior year without her around to antagonize me. Don't get me wrong I loved my sister but she knew how to push my buttons, as all siblings do, and she enjoyed it far too much. I saw Jasper waiting for me standing at my locker when I entered the school.

"Man, you look like you had a rough night. Anything I should know about?" He waggled his eyebrows at me while I got my books.

"Just a date with the history books" I grumbled.

"Not again. You know that won't help. You're just stressing yourself out more." He sounded almost as frustrated at my stubbornness as I had been last night battling with the industrial revolution. I just shrugged.

"Look you're just making yourself too tired to concentrate in class. That will only make it worse. Trust me." He informed me. I shot him a glare. He was a history buff and had a 3.8 average. He was one to talk. "Let's go I don't want to be late too." I Walked away from him but he caught up quickly. He was quiet until class began. I knew what he was trying to say. It was a vicious cycle. Not putting in the extra hours of studying that I needed compared to everyone else would conclude in me not graduating but staying up all night wouldn't help me either. I was fucked no matter what I did. Maybe I should take up mom on her offer to talk to the school. I could still hear my Dad. There is no shame in admitting you need help. It's not your fault. You're not lazy or dumb as much as you might think that. Your brain just can't process words the way others can. In his typical doctor fashion, he turned to explaining what being dyslexic meant. Well, all good and all but that didn't help my current situation.

Before class, I went up to Mr. Yorkie and gave him my extra homework. He had agreed to give me a better grade If I did extracurricular work. He took it with a simple nod. Turning around I noticed that I had gained a tablemate. To my surprise, she didn't look familiar. It was a small girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a black knit sweater and ripped jeans. She was playing with her pen. Clicking it. Over and over again. I chanced a glance at Jasper retreating to the back of the class. He grinned at me. I rolled my eyes. I knew what he was thinking just by the look on his face. Fresh meat. I sat down and turned to her trying to introduce myself. Maybe she was a history buff like Jasper then sitting next to her could actually help me. She didn't react. Was she ignoring me? I looked around me to see if anybody had noticed my failed attempt to talk to the new girl.

"Hey." I tried again a little louder. I moved to tap her shoulder when she turned.

"You ok?" Hadn't she heard me? It wasn't that loud in the classroom. Then her eyes went wide.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't hear you." She moved her hand to her left ear pointing at it. What? She must have seen my confusion because she blushed telling me she was deaf in her left ear. I'm an idiot. I tried to rack my brain for a response.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. I thought you were ignoring me." I laughed trying to alleviate the awkwardness.

"I'm Edward by the way. You must be Bella." My mother had been recounting the gossip she had gotten from Mrs. Cope on Saturday at dinner.

"Carlisle, you should have heard her. She was so excited to get to meet Charlie's kid like he was her son. And the way she told me Charlie was always talking about her imploring how good a student she was." She spent dinner relaying every detail she had gotten from Mrs. Cope that I'm surprised I didn't already know her blood type and social security number. I held my hand out to shake hers.

"That's right my reputation precedes me." She took my hand and a shock went through my hand traveling up my arm and making my heart pound. What was that? "Sorry, static." I mumbled distracted by the tingling feeling the contact had left me with. I think I said something else but wasn't sure what. Trying not to appear like a complete fool I tried to make conversation.

"How come you start a new school this late in the year, if you don't mind me asking?" I saw that my simple question had backfired when her face fell. A contemplative look replacing her small smile.

"I almost finished junior year last year so I only have to take a couple of tests and the finals." Quickly forgetting all the helpful info my mother had provided me with about her awesome grades I again stupidly spoke without thinking.

"Oh, so you had to repeat a year." I could see her rightfully getting a little defensive.

"No, not really. It's complicated." Intrigued I pressed on against my better judgment. "I'm sure I can follow." Now the defensiveness was on full display but I could see her shoulders sagging like all the energy had left her body at my words. "I don't really want to get into it now. Sorry." She hid her face behind her hair putting her pen down and folding her hands in her lap. You moron.

"Of course, I didn't mean to pry. I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable?" Of course, you did. Why didn't just accept her complicated as the I don't want to talk about it that it obviously had been?

Because I was somehow eager to know the reason she was here.

"No, it's ok. It's a valid question." The strained polite smile she gave me before the lesson started stopping anymore garbage spewing from my mouth left me feeling unsettled. Through the lesson, I couldn't stop looking over at her although I should really be concentrating. She wasn't paying attention. Just scribbling on her notebook with her head down. Once she moved her hair behind her left ear I could see she was frowning and biting her lip. I couldn't stop looking. I sealed myself for fixing my blunder when the bell rang and everyone started to move out. I packed up my stuff keeping my eyes on her. She wasn't moving. I used the time to come up with a benign question to ask her and waited. When she still didn't make a move to stand I just blurted it out.

"Hey, what's your next class?" She sighed and finally started packing her stuff. "English with...Ms. Thompson I think." She replied. I cursed my bad grades. She took the advanced English class. Of course. Well, I could still show her to her next class. As she stood she put her backpack on with both straps. Who does that? I got my answer in the next second when she moved from behind the desk leaning heavily on a cane. Like the moron that I was, I just stared at her as she made her way slowly past me standing frozen in the aisle. You couldn't miss the heavy limping. Someone clapped me on the shoulder. I hadn't noticed someone was still.

"Dude, what's wrong with her?" My head spinned around to come face to face with Mike. He had a disgusted look on ist face. Someone was an even bigger idiot than me.

"Nothing." I spat at him. Glaring and finally coming to my senses to go after her. But when I was in the hall I couldn't see her anywhere. She wasn't that fast. How could she have just disappeared? I debated going after her knowing where Ms. Thompson's classroom was. But It was on the opposite side of the school from where my next class. And I couldn't be late. Resigning myself to looking for her later I walked to my next class. Thinking about how I managed to screw my chances at getting to know Bella in less than an hour and what she must be thinking now.

Reviews are greatly appreciated!