Disclaimer: I dont own anything but the plot

Chapter 3 First sight

Edward POV

We were all sitting in the cafeteria at purgatory. Sorry I mean school. It had become purgatory for me though, and I knew it was a bit for the others too. Especially Jasper. Alice had already inquired about his welfare, knowing I could read him better than anyone else, since I could hear his thoughts. He wasn't doing well today. It had been too long since his last hunt, and he was struggling with keeping seated. We have been here almost two years now. The first day we arrived at the school and sat at this very table, Alice and I had both quickly realized the significance of this place. It was the spot in which we would see Bella for the first time. For the first whole year she and I had been very occupied with looking towards the spot where we would make eye contact with her, but alas she never showed up. Alice had become worried that she wouldn't show at all and had been extra keen on checking to see if the vision was still clear. It always was.

She often played the vision in her head as we sat here, and it was no different today. In her mind I saw the form of our long awaited sister as she walked up to the cafeteria line to buy some food as props to look human. "Wait… That's not usually how the vision starts. Normally it's just a flash of the girl standing in the line, already looking at us with an apple and a bottle of water in her hands. Never have I seen this part with her back to us while talking to Jessica Stanley." My brows furrowed and I looked at Alice. Her face was shining with happiness. Eyes big and filled with wonder and her smile so wide a boy a few tables away jerked at the sight of her teeth. "Well it's about time." I heard her think.

"Alice?" I said in a low voice so no human could hear even if they sat right next to me. She heard though, as did the others at our table. "What is it?"

Jasper looked to where she was staring with a small frown. Then his face turned to one of mild shock and one of his eyebrows lifted. Rosalie and Emmett also looked, but before I could decourn their reactions, I turned myself too curious to wait. And there she was. Standing in line, apple in one hand the other grabbing the water bottle. Suddenly her nose twitched and she slowly scanned the room before her eyes landed on our table.

"Bella, my sister. The day has finally come." Alice's voice cut through my own thoughts.

The vision had finally come to fruition. I could see in the others' minds that they were as stunned as I was. Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, never having seen what the girl looked like, thought about her actual appearance vs what they had imagined. Rosalie quickly came to the conclusion that although the girl was prettier than she had thought, Rosalie herself was still much more beautiful. I internally scoffed at her vanity.

After having had the small staring contest with us, Bella turned back to the line and paid for the food. She then walked with Jessica and another girl, Angela I think, to a table in the middle of the room. Jessica introduced her to the other people at their table. Jasper asked out loud then. "So what does she think of us? Do you think we scared her with how many we are?"

That pulled me up short. Now that he mentioned it, I hadn't heard anything from her at all. Maybe she was so stunned when she saw us that her thoughts blanked. Still I couldn't hear anything from her now either.

"Of course we didn't scare her." Alice said, still looking at Bella. "Right? Edward?"

I tried to concentrate on the girl in question. She hadn't said anything aloud yet, so maybe I was just listening for the wrong voice. It had never been a problem before to hear anyones thoughts, even if I hadn't heard them speak before. People's inner voice usually came to them in a similar pitch to their outspoken voice. Then she said a few words in greeting to the people Jessica had just introduced her to. I was completely taken aback. Her voice sounded to my ears as a perfect symphony of tiny bells. They weren't high pitched or irritating, just perfect. "I've never heard such a beautiful voice before." I thought.

Then she looked at us again. And I tried very hard to hear this new beautiful voice in her head as she looked at us to see what she thought of her new, though completely unknown to her, family.

Nothing. Not a single sound came from her mind. What was going on? My face became puzzled and by the time she locked eyes with me, I suddenly understood why I had always been stuck on her eyes while thinking of her over the years. I couldn't hear her thoughts at all, nothing came through, but her eyes. Her eyes. Filled to the brim with unspoken questions and curiosity, secrets I would do anything to uncover and emotions so clear on her face, yet still covered enough by the fact that I couldn't hear her that I was wondering if what I saw really was what she was feeling.

She looked us over one by one, and settled back on me. For a second before she looked away I thought I saw the emotion of fear or maybe anxiousness in her eyes, but again I couldn't be sure. "Crap! Had I just scared her by only looking at her. What does my face look like at the moment? Damn it. I'm scowling!" I mentally scolded myself for being an ass, even if it was unintentionally done.

"Edward?" Alice asked. I looked at her. "We didn't scare her right?" Just then a new vision entered her mind of Bella practically running from the room, while looking over her shoulder at us. "Oh. We did. Didn't we?" She said in a dejected and sad voice.

Before I could answer I heard that perfect voice again and was inraptured by it. But I didn't like what it said. Bella told the boy who had just offered to accompany her to her next class that she had left her phone in her car and was going to go get it. "No way! Did she just reject me? No wait. She's probably telling the truth. No one rejects Mike Newton." Ok, I officially hate that boy. He tried to convince her to still let him accompany her, but she refused and ran from the room. She then looked back at us and gave a small smile.

"What did that mean?" Asked Rosalie.

"We must have scared her. I could feel the nerves coming off her in waves." Added Jasper.

"Edward, answer me." Alice said sternly. "How bad did we frighten her?"

"I don't know." I told them truthfully. "I can't hear her thoughts." I looked back to the door where she had disappeared. I felt and heard the shock from the others.

"You what?" Asked Emmett. "How is that possible?"

"Maybe we should apologize to her?" Alice suggested, but after she said it, we both saw in her mind how that would go.

"Bad idea." Interjected Jasper. "How much faster do you think she would run if the five vampires she just ran from suddenly came after her?"

"I agree." I said. "I'll go after her alone." I stood from the table as soon as I could hear from Alice that yes, this was the best plan. I walked swiftly to the cafeteria doors and walked out to the parking lot. Out here it was easier to catch her scent. As soon as I caught it though, I halted for just a second and my eyes closed in appreciation of this new wonder. "Floral." I thought. "Like a meadow of flowers. Most prominent though is lilac and.. Is that freesia?" I followed the scent to an old truck. She had stopped here for a second, so this must be hers, I've never seen it in the parking lot either so it makes sense.

Her scent was in fact also on the car but more faint. She hadn't actually touched it. Confirming my theory of her not actually leaving her phone here. I followed the scent further into the trees. She had run fast. Where was she going though? If she was going to run away from vampires it would have been better to take the car. Yes she could run faster than the car could drive, but the exhaust from such an old truck could better disguise her scent, making it harder to follow her. Was she too panicked to think about this? Or was she planning something else?

- Bella POV -

I reached the Elementary School quickly. I got a little turned around as I didn't know the area well, but I made it here all the same so whatever. I sat up in a tree near the fences of the playground and tried to spot Luke or his helper teacher. I couldn't see them anywhere though. Then I heard the sound of fast approaching footsteps. One of the Cullens must have come after me. I reached into my shoulder bag and grabbed the apple I had bought earlier. I didn't want to seem threatening by throwing a rock or something, not that it would hurt whoever it was, but I wanted to make sure they knew that they couldn't sneak up on me like that.

I waited for the right moment and then launched the apple in the direction I knew the person was coming from. The bronze haired boy stopped and caught the apple as I knew he would. He looked at it as though he had just seen a ghost. Weird reaction to an apple. I mean sure it just came flying through the air, but still it was just an apple.

"Why are you following me?" I asked in a calm voice. He looked up to find me sitting in the tree.

"Why did you run?" He countered. "My God his voice is as beautiful as his face. Especially now that he's not scowling at me." I mentally slapped myself for thinking that. "What is wrong with me?"

"What? Did you think I was running from you guys?" I asked my brows rising up my forehead.

"It sure seemed that way. Are you saying you didn't?"

I jumped down from the tree and landed nimbly on my feet. It still amazed me that I could do this now without falling flat on my face. "That's exactly what I'm saying. I'm sorry if I offended you or your family. That wasn't my intention." I tried to explain. I hoped to the heavens that I hadn't offended anyone. That would be bad.

"No, no." He quickly said, raising his hands in a placating manor. "I was actually coming to apologize in case we scared you off. Well.." He looked to the ground looking a bit ashamed. "In case I scared you. I really didn't mean to scowl at you." He looked up again.

I couldn't help but smile a bit at his apologetic look. "Alright. So not hostile after all." When he saw my smile he returned it with a smile of his own. "You didn't scare me. But thank you for apologizing for the scowl. It was a bit unnerving." I told him.

He walked forward a few steps and raised his hand to give me back the apple. "My name is Edward Cullen. It's nice to meet you Bella."

I looked at him with a puzzled expression, before hesitantly walking forward myself and accepting the fruit. "It's nice to meet you too Edward." I dropped the apple bag into my bag. "How do you know my name though?"

"Don't you know? The whole school is practically buzzing with your appearance. I hadn't thought much about it earlier in the day, but many people are talking about the new girl Isabella Swan."

"Well that's my point exactly." I explained. "Everyone here calls me Isabella before I correct them into just calling me Bella. How did you know which name I prefered?"

He looked a bit taken aback, like he had just been caught in saying something he shouldn't have. "It's a bit difficult to explain." He said.

"I'm not quite as dumb as I look." I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Try me."

"I don't think you look dumb Bella."He said in an ernest voice. I just gave him a look that said 'Compliments are not going to help you here buddy'. He sighed. "Do you know that some of our kind have special talents or abilities?" He asked.

I narrowed my eyes a bit. "Yeah. So what?"

"My talent is that I can hear people's thoughts." My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open in shock. He chuckled a bit. "I don't try to do it, the thoughts just ring out from people's minds as though everyone has loudspeakers in their heads."

"Oh good God. This is not happening. What about the fact that I just thought about how beautiful I find both his face and the sound of his voice. Did he hear that? Wait, stop! I just did it again.!"

He clearly saw the panic on my face and quickly added to his statement. "You can relax though, because I can't hear your thoughts at all for some reason."

My eyes narrowed again. "What?" My voice was small.

"I don't know why, but I can't hear your thoughts. That has never happened before so it's kind of a big mystery to me. You don't by chance know why, do you?"

My eyes drifted to the trees beside him while I thought. Then I felt my face open up to portray my shock and disbelief that I hadn't realized it sooner. I involuntarily gave out a little snort and then sank to the ground and sat with crossed legs as I laughed at my own stupidity. My hands came up to cover my face. Had I had any warm blood in my body, it would have filled my cheeks.

"Uhm.. Are you okay Bella?" Edwards' voice sounded closer now. I removed my hands and looked up to see him crouched next to me looking a little worried.

Still laughing a little I answered. "Yes I'm fine. I just realised how stupid I actually am." I laughed a bit more at that. "You see, I should have realized right when you said it that you couldn't possibly read my mind. So the fact that you had to point it out to me.." more laughing. "That just shows how dumb I am. And I just told you that I wasn't, but I also just proved myself completely wrong." I lost myself in another fit of giggles.

Edward started to chuckle along with me, clearly affected by my laughter. "I still don't think you're dumb Bella, but I would love to know why it's so funny to you."

"Oh Edward. Once you know, you're gonna think me stupid too for not realising right away." I calmed down a bit so I could look at him properly. "But before I tell you, could I ask a favor of you?"

Please R&R, Thank you