Disclaimer: I dont own anything but the plot

Chapter 4 Open book

Bella POV

His eyes were unfocused as he tried to listen to the minds of the Elementary School next to us. We didn't have long before we needed to be back at school so I wanted this out of the way first.

"Alright I think I found her. A teacher by the name of Shannon, correct?" He asked, eyes still looking at nothing in particular.

"Yes, that's her. Is she with a young boy? One with light brown hair and blue eyes?"

"Yes." A moment of silence. "I think his name is Luke. He's right next to her, reading a book."

"He's spending lunch alone? Has he not made any friends?" My face fell. Edward must have seen.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concern leaking into his tone.

I looked up at him. "Is he okay? Does he seem lonely?"

He focused again. "There are two other boys sitting next to him. Twins by the look of it. They seem to be quite fond of him and are reading the book alongside him. He's smiling too, so I would say he seems happy" His eyes focused back on me. And clearly he did not expect the look of pure happiness currently on my face, for his brows almost disappeared into his hairline.

I threw my arms around him. "Thank you Edward." I whispered softly into his shoulder.

His arms came around me and hugged me back. "You're very welcome, though I'm not sure what for."

I let go and stepped back a bit while looking down at my watch. "I'll explain, but first we should get back to school. We only have 2 min before our next class starts."

We ran back side by side. It was a strange feeling. I've never run like this with a friend by my side. Because that's what he was right? A friend?

We slowed down as we reached the parking lot again. "So what's your next class?" I asked him.

"Biology with Mr. Banner. Same as you, if I remember correctly from your conversation with Newton in the cafeteria." His face darkened a bit when he said Mike's last name. "I wonder what that's about."

"Yeah that's right." And so he showed me the way to the biology lab. When we entered I noticed Mike looked up and smiled when he saw me. But his face fell a bit when he saw Edward by my side. "Is there some sort of beef between these two? I'll have to ask Edward about that later." I thought to myself as I walked up to the teacher to get my slip signed. Mr. Banner gave me a book and signed my slip without any nonsense about introducing myself to the class. I could tell we were going to get along just fine. He then sent me to sit at the only available seat. I turned and saw that it was right next to my new friend. Edward was smiling at me expectantly. I smiled back and walked over to take my seat.

Neither of us said anything for a while as Mr. Banner explained today's topic. When he asked us to work individually though, Edward didn't miss a beat. He was clearly impatient to know why he couldn't read my mind as he could everyone else's. He spoke in a low soft voice.

"So tell me. What's the secret of your mind? Why can't I hear your thoughts?"

My smile widened a bit, though a bit ruefully. "It's a bit difficult to explain." I said echoing his words from earlier.

He gave me a mischievous grin. "I'm not quite as dumb as I look. Try me."

I giggled at that and he chuckled too. Then his eyes cut to somewhere on the side behind me and he scowled again. I looked back but didn't see anything amiss. I faced him again.

"What?" I asked.

"Newton is getting on my nerves." He scowled at what I now could assume was the back of Mike's head.

"Why? What is he thinking about?"

His eyes met mine again and his grin reappeared. "Don't try to change the topic Ms. Swan. You still owe me an explanation."

I sighed and filled the question away for later. "You're right Mr. Cullen. I apologize for letting your sudden mood swings detour me from the topic at hand."

He chuckled again. "Well spoken."

"Thank you." I took a breath and continued. "I refer to my talent as a shield. Which is pretty spot on because that's actually what it is."

"A shield?" He questioned, furrowing his brows.

"Yes. As I've come to learn through trial and error, it is a sort of invisible mental shield that is always around me. Like your talent it's not something I have to think about it's just always there. I've learned to extend this shield to my immediate surroundings, should I want to shield someone next to me, but it's hard and takes a lot of concentration. I think maybe with more practice I could extend it even further though. I once managed to create a physical shield in a dome-like shape around myself, but like I said I only managed it that once and it was out of pure desperation. "I looked up from my work book to look at Edward. His face was stunned and almost disbelieving.

"That's amazing and.. Unbelievable." He managed to say after a few seconds of silence.

"So is mind reading. Yet you can do that." I countered.

"Yes of course. I'm sorry. I wasn't questioning whether you were telling the truth or not, I just have never heard of a talent like yours. I wonder how it manifested."

"Manifested?"

"My father Carlisle has this theory, that when we are transformed we take with us the strongest of our personal traits and if strong enough, it will manifest into a talent. He theorieses, that I for example must have been very good at reading people and spent a lot of time doing it, making my talent manifest into actually reading people's thoughts." He explained.

"Oh, I see. That's actually a very good Theory."

"Were you very protective of yourself when you were still human? Maybe that's how your talent came to be."

I gave a small laugh without humor and looked down at my book. "No, I seriously doubt that's it." Flashes of my transformation came to the forefront of my mind. I had always been extremely protective of my family, but in those moments, every thought occupying my mind surrounded the topic of protection. "I will not hurt them! I will NOT hurt them! No! If I am to be cursed with the power of destruction I will use it to protect them! I will use it to protect them from him!" These thoughts became a sort of mantra in my head. I told them to myself over and over again to force myself not to become the monster that he wanted me to be.

I suddenly became aware of Edward trying to get my attention again. "Bella? What's wrong?" He looked worried. "Oh gosh. I didn't mean to worry him."

"I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought for a moment. What did you say?"

He didn't look convinced. "You looked very sad just now. Are you alright?"

I sighed. "Yes. I'm sorry Edward. I didn't mean to worry you. I was just reminded of my family. You see, I think that's how my talent manifested. I've always been extremely protective of the people I care about. And thinking of that made me think of them. So it's nothing really. I just miss them a lot."

He smiled sadly. "I can understand that. In the beginning I missed my family too. It's become easier over the years as the memories fade away. Can I ask, how long ago were you turned?"

"Eight years." I said. "Almost to the day."

"That's still very recent. My condolences for your pain."

I was so surprised I smiled genuinely, though still with a bit of sadness. "Thank you." I said. "Now do you understand why I thought of myself as stupid. I've had this power for eight years now and nothing has ever been able to penetrate it. I really should have realized it sooner than I did."

The look on his face now told me that he found me comical. "No, Bella." . "Why does the sound of my name on his lips make me want to smile?" . "Your reaction was completely natural. In fact it's pretty much the same reaction everyone else had when they learned what I could do. It's obvious that the shock you recieved, made your rational thoughts take a step back."

Ok. That kind of made sense. I had panicked pretty much the moment he told me.

"So no. I don't think you're stupid, Bella. Not at all." His eyes were so warm now. Kind and gentle.

"Thank you, Edward. That's very kind of you to say."

- Edward POV -

The rest of the biology class passed while we silently worked. Bella told me how she had already studied this particular subject, but she had never gotten to finish High School, so she was adamant to refresh everything. I of course had studied this subject a few times already and therefore knew it very well, so I didn't need to pay as much attention.

I thought over what she had just told me about her talent. It made me think back to her reaction back in the forest. The sound of her laughter had been music to my ears. I had promised myself then that if at all possible, I would make her laugh as often as I could just to hear that beautiful sound again.

Her request to listen in on the students and teachers at the Elementary School, had been weird. As soon as I had the chance I would ask her why that boy seemed to be so important to her. Maybe he was a relative of hers? Could he have been the reason why she had come to Forks? Maybe to check that her nephew, or cousin perhaps, was doing ok? She had become so happy when I confirmed that he was fine, that a look of pure joy had overtaken her face. That smile was so bright I felt like a deer stunned by headlights.

"Ha! Looks like Richie Rich can't keep her attention for long either." The thoughts of Mike Newton caught my attention again. He seriously needs to be very careful that I don't 'accidentally' backhand him into a wall. His comment earlier when Bella had giggled at the comment I made, had pissed me off so bad it took everything in my not to growl out loud at him. He had thought something about how Bella apparently thought that money and looks was the important thing, since she had taken quicker to me than to himself. I wondered if I had enough self control to slap him without breaking his neck or causing him serious brain damage. "Probably best not to test it." I concluded.

The class ended and Bella told me that she had gym next. I had spanish myself alongside Emmett. "Meet me in the parking lot after class. I'll formally introduce you to the rest of my family."

She smiled again. "Gods, that's so pretty." I thought. "Sounds like a plan." She said, before turning to walk to the gym.

I met up with Emmett in Mrs. Goff's classroom. "So how did it go?" He asked in his thoughts. "Just how bad did we screw up?"

"We didn't." I told him quietly. "It was something else she was so nervous about. We talked for a while and we just had biology together to smooth everything over, so I know for a fact she was telling the truth."

"Oh, okay that's good to know. Alice will be so glad to hear that. Heck, she's probably already seen how things went." In fact she had. She had called out in her mind to me earlier, to let me know that she had seen us all talking in the parking lot after school. That's why I had told Bella to meet me there. I told Emmett as much and he became excited to actually talk to his new little sister.

I became curious then and subconsciously reached out to the gymnasium to see if I could find her. I knew of course that I wouldn't be able to hear her in particular, but if the people in the room were looking at her or just in her direction, I should be able to see how she's doing. It irritated me then that the best point of view was from the thoughts of Mike Newton. He had apparently convinced her very easily to join his team and was ecstatic about that. When he thought about the moment she agreed, it struck me as odd how he hadn't noticed the hesitation and reluctance in her voice. Clearly, at least to me, she had only agreed because no one else seemed to want her as a team mate. I deduced as much from the other thoughts around her. Some of them were looking at her skeptically, trying to deduce why her mere presence invoked an urge to back away, while simultaneously wanting to get closer to her.

That was typical. The same thoughts surrounded all of us as well. Most humans had these very thoughts when in our presence. All except for Carlisle of course, but he had so many years of training in the medical field, that he knew exactly how to make people be at ease around him very quickly.

Class ended. Emmett and I walked to the parking lot to wait for the others. I heard Alice tell Jasper and Rosalie about the plan to talk to Bella out here and how excited she was, as they walked towards us. They had almost reached us when I saw the doors of the gymnasium open to reveal Newton holding the door for Bella. She was frowning at him as she walked through the door. "That's a little weird. Why would she frown at him for holding the door? It's supposed to be a nice gesture. Had he said something rude to her?"

"On the contrary, Mike." I heard her say. "I find Edward to be both civil and kind. Both of which are traits of a true gentleman. You on the other hand, while you're right that holding the door for me is kind, speaking ill of a person whom you don't actually know is the exact opposite. If you want me to consider you in a better light than him, then maybe you should think about your own actions instead of his. He at least does not scoff at someone else simply for showing me kindness."

"Wow. She really is protective." I thought. "She's only known me for a couple of hours and already she's defending me."

"Yeah I'll bet he was kind." Mike spat internally. "The pretty rich boy obviously needs to have his turn with the pretty new toy. He probably wants to make sure he gets his hands on her first, so she isn't used when he gets her."

This time my growl slipped through my teeth. It was low and menacing. "That's it! I hope for his sake that he has good health insurance, because this is going to hurt." I took a step forward, but then felt Alice and Jasper hold me back.

"Take it easy Edward." Jasper told me, trying to calm me down by pushing at my rage with his power.

"His thoughts are vile." I hissed.

"From what I just saw you wanting to do to him, I'm sure you're right." Alice said in a tone that told, she wasn't completely unaffected either. "But no matter what, it won't do for you to bash his head into the ground. Especially not here at school."

"Is that what I was going to do?" She showed me how I was about to run over there with vampire speed and grab him by the neck.

"I'm sure he deserves to be put in his place." She continued. "But outright hurting him like that will not win you any favors with Bella." She was right. Even if the vile scum had been outright rude, Bella would not take kindly to me doing anything so violent. She was too kindhearted for that. I relaxed my stance and the others let go of me. I focussed back on the gym doors and saw Bella walking away from Mike, who was staring after her looking stunned and a little frightened. She on the other hand was walking towards us now wearing a triumphant smirk.

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