Author's note: I usually wouldn't have a new chapter out quite so early, but I'm procrastinating writing the last three chapters of my novel. I needed something light and easy to take a break with while my own characters battle it out in my head, so here you are. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Two: Edward

Edward. I now had a name for the face which had been renting space in my head for the last week. Edward. What an old-fashioned, classic name. It brought to my mind images of heroes from some of my favorite novels-Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre… but those heroes were nothing like the Edward who was now making his way towards me, stiffly, his jaw set in either determination or anger, I didn't know.

Professor Poole had reserved the last fifteen minutes of class for talking with our groups-exchanging phone numbers, making preliminary plans for which novels we might do our presentation on. Robby was already sitting near me, so he swiveled in his seat as we waited for Edward to take one of the seats vacated by our former neighbor as she went to meet with her group.

"What's up," said Robby brightly when Edward sat down at the empty desk across from me. His reply to Robby was a tight smile and a small nod of his head. His hands were clenched atop the textbook on his desk, the knuckles impossibly pale, bordering on almost translucent.

"I'm Robby," Robby offered, looking at if he might offer to shake hands, but a glance at Edward's face seemed to change his mind.

"I'm Bella," I said, attempting to make my voice sound light.

"Edward," said Edward, not offering a smile or any sort of explanation for his odd behavior. Not that I was expecting one...but it would have been nice.

"Here, let's write down our numbers so we can contact each other about getting together to plan for our presentation."

I quickly wrote down my name and phone number on a page of my notebook. On the following line, I wrote "Robby" and the one after, "Edward." I handed the paper to Robby so he could write his number down, and he handed the paper to Edward, who sat behind him. I suggested we take pictures of the paper with our phones. It seemed less intrusive than passing our phones around, as some of our classmates were doing. I didn't like the idea of people having access to all of my personal information, even if it was only for a few moments.

"Do either of you have a preference about which two novels we should do our presentation on?" I asked when neither guy seemed to want to take the lead.

Robby pulled out the list of novels, humming about how he hadn't read any of them yet, so he didn't really know which ones would work. Edward sat silent, staring mostly at his clasped hands atop his textbook, but I occasionally caught him looking at me with that same questioning expression. To put it lightly, his gaze was...intense. All consuming. My heart rate increased, and I found it both difficult to look away when our eyes met and incredibly frustrating because we only had five more minutes to talk about our project, and then it would have to be done in our own time.

"What about...Utopia and Little Women?" Robby suggested.

It was all I could do to hold back my laugh. I mean, I supposed the transcendental angle was an option, but it would be pretty tricky, especially if I had to do more than my share of the work. "Why not choose something with more things in common. It will be easier if there are overlapping themes. Any suggestions, Edward?"

He merely shook his head. Right. So it looked like I would be pulling all of the weight on this one.

"Alright…" I sighed. "What about Frankenstein and... Dracula? Any objections?"

Robby shook his head. "Hey, that's pretty brilliant. They are both about monsters! That overlaps, right?"

I didn't bother to correct him, knowing that we didn't have time to get into the fact that we would likely be deconstructing and talking about the themes of both novels, not something as simplistic as a Venn Diagram.

I looked to Edward to ask if he had a better idea or if those novels sounded acceptable to him. His lips twitched as if fighting to smile at some joke I wasn't privy to.

"That's fine," he said just as Professor Poole stood up again to let us know our class time was up.

"I guess we should figure out a good time to get together and plan which direction we want to take. In the meantime, we should make sure we read both novels and take notes."

Or reread, in my case, as I owned and had already read both books a few times before.

"I've seen the Bride of Frankenstein," said Robby as he stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder. "So that should make this a bit easier."

It took all of my willpower not to look at Robby as if he had two heads. Honestly, had he signed up for the wrong class? Or was he one of those people with such a dry sense of humor that you could never tell if they were joking? I sincerely hoped it was the latter.

A looked over at Edward as I began packing up my things. His lips twitched again, and his eyes sparkled. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought we'd just shared a moment of mutual amusement, but the smile was gone the next moment, and he had already disappeared through the classroom door…

#

"Hey, Bella," Angela called from the sofa in our common area as I entered our suite later that afternoon. She was sitting crossed legged with a math textbook in her lap, her hair up in a messy bun. "How were your classes?"

I took a deep breath. Might as well get it over with. Maybe she could tell Jessica, and I wouldn't have to recount the tale twice.

"Remember that guy I told you about from my biology class? The angry one?"

Angela put down her pencil, her look of concentration relaxing into one of interest. I loved that about Angela-she was such a good listener, and so conscientious, reserving judgment until she had heard everything, and often all together.

"Yes," I said. "He still didn't show up for biology this morning, but he was in my Lit. class today. He's in my group for a big project at the end of the month."

Angela's eyebrows raised. "Was he still angry?"

I hesitated, recalling his face as our names were called together, as he was forced to sit down beside me, and as we had almost shared a private joke.

"I'm not sure. At least, I don't think he was. But he wasn't exactly happy either."

"What did he say?"

"That's the problem. He hardly said a word."

"Maybe he just has one of those faces. You know...resting…"

I laughed at Angela's hesitance to swear.

"I kind of doubt it, but I guess anything is possible. I guess the mystery will unfold soon enough. We are going to have to get together to work on our group project soon."

"Maybe you could just ask him what his problem is," said Angela.

"There's one idea, I suppose. How's Ben?"

Angela smiled, her eyes lighting up. "He's doing great! We're going to go eat dinner together if I can ever get through this mountain of math equations."

"I'm happy for you," I said, readjusting my bag on my shoulder and hoping she wouldn't fix me with that sad little smile she sometimes did when we talked about her and Jessica's significant others. Poor Bella, all alone. It wasn't that I hadn't had opportunities to date, just that they weren't the right guys. "Anyway, I have to get started on all of this reading and finish printing out my resume to start the job search. See you later."

I trudged to my room, dropping my backpack on my bed and sitting down at my computer-a graduation present from Charlie and Renee. It was a little older but functioned a lot better than my previous computer in Forks.

There wasn't much I could do to tweak my resume. My job experience was fairly limited, although I had worked at Newton's Outfitters all summer. Hopefully, that would be enough to tempt someone into hiring me.

I'd opted for a less expensive university, one close to Charlie, as I knew he would miss me. He was just so alone… But less expensive was still expensive, and, despite having a scholarship, there would be things I knew Charlie and Renee just couldn't cover. Like gas to and from Forks on the weekends. If I didn't have to work, that is.

I hit print on my resume, making sure I had enough copies to drop off at the various locations I had noted were hiring near the campus. As I watched my archaic printer think about its job, perhaps contemplating the meaning of life, Edward's eye drifted through my memory. I could have sworn they had been onyx that day in biology, but they had looked more amber, maybe lighter this morning.

I fell onto my bed, knowing that I needed to get started on my homework, but feeling like I couldn't focus. After pushing thoughts of Edward's face from my mind, I finally began my biology homework.

Not for the first time, I wished Forks wasn't such a small town. I'd been in several AP classes in Phoenix and could probably have graduated with some college credits without too much difficulty, but Forks didn't have those kinds of opportunities. Despite my good grades, I wasn't starting where I wanted to be. I was forced to take some classes which were, honestly, a little too simplistic. I was impatient, I knew. I felt like I was still waiting for something to begin, waiting for my life to truly start. It had always been like that. I had hoped that with moving out and starting college, the feeling would go away. But it didn't. It only grew stronger, more resolute, growing a pulse of its own, which beat in my ear so loud that it was sometimes difficult to hear anything else. It was vague and ethereal, but constant.

"Hey, Bella," Jessica said, leaning her head around my door. "There's a party at Haggett Hall on Friday-put it on your calendar."

"I can't," I replied, trying to force my face to show some semblance of disappointment or regret instead of the relief I truly felt. "I'm going home Friday after classes."

Jessica sighed, rolling her eyes and slumping her shoulders with annoyance. "Why?" she whined. "You went home last weekend. Your dad can get along just fine without you. He seemed to do alright before you moved from Phoenix."

"Sorry," I said, choosing not to engage. It was just easier to deflect or change the subject when it came to Jessica. "I'll try to catch the next one."

Jessica's frown told me she didn't believe me, but she nodded and left, closing the door behind her. I hoped that she would accept my need for solitude at some point, but it was difficult for an extrovert to really get where an introvert was coming from. Or at least that's how I justified it in my head, wanting to give Jessica the benefit of the doubt.

#

Tuesday flew by in a blur of classes, dropping off resumes, and trying to finish the mountains of homework I already had. I awoke Wednesday morning feeling jittery and anxious, and I didn't have to wonder why. However, I did wonder if Edward would actually be in class today or if he'd dropped this class too. I wondered all through biology and on my walk from the Life Sciences building to my Lit. class, scenarios running through my mind. Would he be angry today? Would he say more than two words together?

He wasn't in class when I got there, slumping down into the desk in the back, nearest the door. Robby was there, a few seats ahead in the next row.

"Hey, Bella," he called genially, holding up a dog eared copy of Frankenstein to show me. "This is not at all what I thought it was gunna be. It's just a bunch of letters."

I smiled, holding back a laugh. "Yeah, pretty different from what you see in the movies, right?"

Just then, Edward strolled into the room, forgoing the first two rows of empty desks, opting instead for a seat towards the middle rows. But he didn't stop at the front as he had done up to this point and opted to sit in the very back. There was only one desk between us. Crap.

Now I couldn't enjoy the view of the back of his head, and if I chanced a glance at his face, I'd probably get caught and end up blushing furiously because that was my superpower.

The rest of the class filed in as Professor Poole began speaking.

"I'm going to send around a sign-up sheet for your presentations. Pick a date and pass it on."

The clipboard and sheet came to me before my other group members, given that I was in the front row. I quickly skimmed the possible dates, pausing at the Wednesday or Friday options. My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I distractedly pulled it out, still trying to think through which day would be best to present. Wednesday would give us that finally Monday to make sure we were ready, but doing it on Friday would allow us to see what kind of things the other groups did. I glanced down at my phone. I had a new text from a number I didn't recognize.

I won't be here on the 28th. Would it be possible to present on the 30th?

Edward. I looked over to him, and he was looking at me calmly, expectantly, as if he had spoken the words and was waiting for my reply. I quickly jotted down our names on the sign-up sheet and passed it on before picking up my phone again.

Sure. We're the second group that day.

I looked over to Edward as he glanced at his phone. He looked at me again and nodded. He didn't smile, but there was something about his eyes today, something lighter, more relaxed. And his jaw was not the tight knot of muscles it had been the two previous times I'd seen him, either. Although I knew it had to be impossible, this relaxed version of Edward was even more handsome.

But Professor Poole was talking again, and I had to push thoughts of Edward away to take notes. When class was over, I had planned to stop both Edward and Robby so we could make plans to meet about our presentation. But before I could even finish putting my books back in my bag, Edward was between my desk and the door.

"What would be a convenient time to discuss our presentation?" he asked, his voice smooth and calming. I tried to stand up, but my legs became jelly beneath me, and I fell back onto my chair.

"I'm free in the afternoons and evenings, for now," I said, feeling the blush creep up already. Calm down, I told myself, it isn't like he's asking you on a date. This is required. "What about you, Robby?"

Robby began prattling off about his schedule, and it took a few moments for me to translate what he was saying into something helpful.

"So, you're free in the evenings as well?" I asked. Robby nodded.

"What if we get together tonight? Seven o'clock in the library?" I suggested. Both guys agreed, and I slung my bag over my shoulder, heading out of the classroom and down the hall to the building's door. Edward walked silently beside me and, once through the door, began walking in the opposite direction. I waited a few moments before looking back, unable to stop myself from trying to get one last look at him, but he was already out of sight.